TEST - Twelfth Night
-
11 Dec
- Doors open
- 18:00
- Start
- 19:00
- Interval
- 20:00
- End
- 21:15
PreviewTEST - Location, RotterdamTEST - Hall
If music be the food of love, play on.
Written around 1601-02, Twelfth Night represents Shakespeare's romantic comedy at its most mature and sophisticated. The play examines how identity can be fluid, how love often defies logic, and how society's rules can be both confining and absurd. Our production honours both the play's exuberant comedy and its underlying sadness—the sense that all revelry must end, that disguises must eventually be shed, and that love, however it arrives, transforms us irrevocably.
From Viola's poignant soliloquies to the uproarious gulling of Malvolio, from the sublime reunion of the twins to Feste's haunting final song, every moment serves Shakespeare's meditation on desire, identity, and the bittersweet nature of happiness.
Featured
TEST - Sophie Laurent
Director
TEST - Anya Volkov (Set Designer), TEST - Sarah McKenzie (Composer & Sound Designer), TEST - Jasmine Patel (Aerial Choreographer & Movement Director), TEST - Christopher Watson (Lighting Designer), TEST - Olivia Bradford (Costume Designer)
Produced with support from coastal arts partnerships. Period music arrangements by the Elizabethan Song Collective. Original compositions by contemporary folk musicians. Costume design supported by theatrical heritage foundations. Youth outreach programmes funded by regional cultural organizations.
Program
Act One
Viola is shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, believing her twin brother Sebastian has drowned. She disguises herself as a young man called Cesario and enters the service of Duke Orsino, who is hopelessly in love with the mourning Lady Olivia. Orsino sends Viola/Cesario to woo Olivia on his behalf, but Olivia promptly falls in love with the disguised messenger. Meanwhile, in Olivia's household, her uncle Sir Toby Belch carouses with his drinking companion Sir Andrew Aguecheek, whilst the clever servant Maria plots revenge against the self-important steward Malvolio. Viola finds herself trapped in an impossible situation, secretly loving Orsino whilst he remains oblivious to her true identity and gender.
Interval (20 minutes)
Act Two
The conspirators trick Malvolio with a forged letter supposedly from Olivia, making him believe his mistress loves him. His ridiculous attempts to woo her in yellow stockings and cross-garters lead to him being locked away as a madman. Meanwhile, Viola's twin brother Sebastian has survived the shipwreck and arrives in Illyria with his devoted friend Antonio. When Olivia mistakes Sebastian for Cesario, romantic chaos multiplies. Sebastian, bewildered but delighted, agrees to marry her. The twins' eventual reunion resolves the tangle of mistaken identities, Orsino discovers his love for Viola, and both couples are united. Only Malvolio, humiliated and vengeful, refuses to join the general happiness, whilst the wise fool Feste reminds us that "the rain it raineth every day."
