The Play

Seeing William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in person really brought the story alive for me. Among the many aspects of the performance that I liked, I have chosen three in particular.

The emotions of the characters are one of the first things I noticed about watching Twelfth Night instead of reading it. Reading the play, one could kind of get a sense of the emotions a character might have only if his words made his demeanor completely clear. However, subtle, yet important, facial expressions and emotions can be lost–specifically the reactions from the characters listening to the speaker.

The second thing that stood out in the play was the props and scenery. While reading the play, one must imagine most props except for very obvious direction cues like “draw sword.” Some of the props used surprised me, and sometimes made scenes I had already read make more sense. One of my favorite inclusions was Orsino’s bathtub that he was brought out in. I am guessing it was the Director’s choice to use that, and it worked perfectly with the Duke’s haughty character and Viola’s meekness as she proceeds to scrub Orsino’s feet. The scenery, although limited, gave the story some context. It also made much of the interactions between the characters make sense, as they moved throughout the stage.

The last thing I enjoyed was the proximity of the audience to the stage in this particular production. I remember when I toured the Globe Theatre in London, the guide explained how close many members of the standing audience would be to the stage, and how the audience sort of became a part of the scenery. In the production at the Mesa Arts Center, the room was quite small and nobody was more than ten feet or so away. This made it easier to hear, see, and truly feel like you were part of what was happening on stage. We were so close in fact, that we could all too often see the spit spew from Sir Toby’s mouth.

This was the first Shakespearean play I have seen as a person who can understand it, and I am really glad I attended–I found it much more enjoyable than I originally thought I would.