Twelfth Night
Darwin Theatre Company has joined forces with Tainted Theatre Company to present Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, Twelfth Night, at Brown’s Mart Theatre.
Shipwrecked identical twins, Viola and Sebastian, each believe the other to be dead. Disguised as Cesario (a man) Viola works for Orsino. Orsino, whom Viola’s fallen for, sends her to woo Olivia, but Olivia falls in love with Cesario. Sounds complicated, right?
Meanwhile, Sir Toby’s incessant partying leads to trouble, resulting in a plot against the puritanical Malvolia. When Sebastian arrives on the island, mayhem ensues, with mistaken identities, misplaced love and practical jokes gone awry.
Written in the early 1600s, Shakespeare penned the play to mark the close of the Christmas season, a fitting production for this time of year. Director Tony Rive says the production should be a mood lifter.
“We chose Twelfth Night because people need a laugh at the moment – it’s really simple, really fun, and just a good laugh. I’m also a huge Shakespeare fanatic, so it’s nice to be able to direct after performing Shakespeare for the last 20 or so years,” he says.
“It’s light, it’s fun, and incredibly animated. The characters are larger than life and we own that, and it’s something Shakespeare does really well – big feelings, big emotions, but without getting too heavy. Of course, there’s an element of that, but Shakespeare’s really good at looking at the duality of people.
“The characters are pretending to be something they’re not, and that’s slowly stripped away. It’s reminding you to be true to yourself – as long as you’re not a bastard.”
Twelfth Night
WHEN WED 2 – SAT 12 DEC (EXC. SUN 6 - TUE 8) | 7PM
AT BROWN’S MART THEATRE
COST $30 | $25 CONC, GROUPS 8+
INFO brownsmart.com.au | facebook.com/darwintheatrecompany
Photo: Tony Rive
