By Gionna Bean, Aquinas Reporter
The cast of Aquinas’ production of Twelfth Night gathers on stage – Photo credit: Aquinas Theatre
Circle Theatre was full of laughs on Thursday, October 3 as Aquinas Theatre held the opening night for their first play of the school year: a Shakespearean romantic comedy, Twelfth Night. The show was full of Shakespeare’s signature witty dialogue, and a funky soundtrack consisting of modern love songs put together by the cast.
The play opens on twins Viola (Reign Lawson) and Sebastian (Isaac Zittel), who were separated in a shipwreck. Viola, believing Sebastian to be dead, disguises herself as a man named Cesario and becomes a servant to Duke Orsino (Carson LePage). She falls in love with Orsino, who in turn is in love with Countess Olivia (Francesca Varricchio). However, when Olivia lays eyes upon Viola, she falls in love with her, thinking her to be a man.
The cast worked hard to make the play as funny as possible. “My favorite line in the play was ‘Give me some music!’ I thought this line was very funny to say, because I find it funny that my character loves to listen to music to motivate him when he’s in love,” said Junior Carson LePage.
The cast put together a playlist of songs that added irony to the romantic situations such as “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M., “Linger” by The Cranberries, and a personal favorite of LePage, “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor.
When LePage as Duke Orsino said, “Give me some music,” Senior Drew Huegli’s character Feste would hit play on a boombox, and all the characters would have a dance party. “It was really funny, because we had to try to do bad dancing, which was a little hard. I really think it was a hit with the audience,” said LePage.
Most of the humor of the play stemmed from hilarious misunderstandings, including one surrounding a pair of yellow stockings. “My favorite scene was probably the scene where Malvolio came out in his yellow stockings. Getting to work with Abby on that was so fun, and the audience seemed to love it as well,” said Sophomore Michaela Faith.
Abby Kozal (Malvolio) shows off her yellow stockings – Photo credit: Aquinas Theatre
“I’ve never played a male character before, so finding the space in which the character existed and certain mannerisms for this character was incredibly fun,” said Faith. Certainly, this was one of the aspects that added to the uniqueness of the play.
In the time of Shakespeare, all characters were traditionally performed by male actors, including the female characters. However, in the Aquinas production of Twelfth Night, three female actors played male characters, including Michaela Faith as Sir Toby Belch, Abby Kozal as Malvolio, and Ashlyn Armock as Sir Andrew.
Delany Pocevich (Maria) looks on as Michaela Faith (Sir Toby Belch) and Joel Grimsley (Antonio) fight – Photo credit: Aquinas Theatre
The play was a challenge for the actors due to the difficulty of reading and memorizing the Shakespearean dialogue. “This show was a challenge compared to others. We had to actually sit down and work through every individual line and find its real meaning. This made it much easier for us all to connect to a somewhat foreign text, even though it was tedious,” said Faith.
“For me personally it was definitely a challenge, because I have never done Shakespeare before, nor have I read any,” said LePage. He said researching meanings of phrases and words was very important in this role, due to the complex nature of the oldfangled language.
Drew Huegli (Feste) bows to Michaela Faith (Sir Toby Belch) and Delany Pocevich (Maria) – Photo Credit: Aquinas Theatre
Overall, the play was a huge hit. The first night had the audience laughing through every scene, and actors report having a similar experience throughout the following shows. The show ran October 3-5, starting at 7:30 PM, concluding with a show on Sunday, October 6 at 2:30 PM.
The Saint 