When the days are crisp and the nights wintery, when the trees go bare and the nights grow long, when the Hop box office is unusually crowded Yup, it's that time of the year again. It's that time of fall term when the Drama Department moves into the Moore with its latest theatrical production -- and the mad rush for tickets begins.
This year the Department presents "Twelfth Night," Shakespeare's "most musical" comedy, and "perhaps the one that traverses the greatest emotional span from melancholia to raucous bacchanalian madness," director Mara B. Sabinson said.
"The final night of the Christmas holiday, rooted in the rowdy spirit of the Roman Saturnalia, ["Twelfth Night"] signified those final hours of revelry before the resumption of daily duty," dramaturg Nathan Sabel '02 said.
Also called the Feast of Fools, the twelfth night of Christmas was one of excess and backwardness: men dressed as women, women dressed as men, servants became masters, masters became their servants, the fool reigned as king and all got incredibly drunk.
"As Twelfth Night drew to a close, the Fool surrendered his position of authority, heralding a return to excess-quenching Order," Sabel said. Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" epitomizes this typically Renaissance crux -- the moment of transition from a state of excess to one of balance and moderation.
The Department's synopsis of the play reads, "Where the film "Shakespeare in Love" ends, the compelling comic play "Twelfth Night" begins: A storm at sea a shipwreck A beautiful young woman washed ashore on the sandy beach of Illyria.
"It is Viola, one of Shakespeare's most endearing heroines, landing in the languid Mediterranean home of such colorful characters as Duke Orsino, Lady Olivia, the steward Malvolio and the fool Feste."
"Twelfth Night" stars the Withers siblings, Brenda '00 and Jeffrey '02, as twins Viola and Sebastian. In addition, the plays stars Rashaad Green '00 as Orsino, Rachel Fink '01 as Olivia, Mindy Chokalingam '01 as Maria, Max Gross '00 as Sir Toby Belch, Karl Polifka '01 as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Kinohi Nishikawa '01 as Malvolio, Tom Dugdale '03 as Antonio and Jonah Blumstein '98 as Feste the Clown.
Other cast members include Yaw Agyeman '00, Scott Mollett '03, Noelle Kayongo '03, Andy Hoey '01, Brent Kesler '03, Morgan Faust '00, Carroll L. Rooth '03, Anna Rudberg '01 and Serenity Olsen '01.
Christine Jones designed the play's sets, Sherry Lyon the play's costumes, Daniel Kotlowitz the play's lighting and Paul Botelho 'Gr the play's sound.
Associate Professor and Chair of the Drama Department, Mara Sabinson directed last year's "The Foreigner." She received her B.A. at the University of California at Berkley in Acting and Directing. Of her latest project as director, she says, "'Twelfth Night' is a play about excess and disguise, about ill-placed love and the struggle between Lent and Carnival, darkness and light, and illusion and fantasy."
But that is not all.
"Not only does the play's action take place in a place [Illyria] whose name is similar to 'illusion' and even 'delirium,' but it also directly parallels Elysium, the Greco-Roman version of heaven," dramaturg Kaitlyn Chantry '01 explained. "The world of 'Twelfth Night' is one in which illusion and delirium reign supreme, where the spirits of mythology seem to walk side-by-side with spirits of Illyria."
Sabinson intends to capture "Twelfth Night"'s touch on illusion by staging Illyria as a fantasyland in a fantasy time. As a result, the set is minimal and the costumes are regionally influenced.
"Twelfth Night" opens at the Moore Theater in the Hop tomorrow at 8 p.m. Performances will follow on Nov. 12, 13, 17, 18, 19 and 20, all at 8 p.m., plus a matinee on the Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. Discussions with Sabinson and actors, and with Professor of Drama Framji Minwalla and the dramaturgs, will follow the Nov. 12 performance and the Nov. 19 performances respectively.
Tickets may be purchased at the Hop box office. Tickets are $3 for Dartmouth students, $5 for all other students, and $10.50 general admission.
