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Twelfth Night
Show Dates: September, 2008
Cost of program: $225.00
Auditions: T.B.A
Rehearsals: T.B.A
Times: T.B.A
How To Register
Please email admin@allabouttheatre.org to confirm that there are places left. Then, simply print out the forms below and mail them in along with the $95.00 deposit.
Mail to:-
All About Theatre
Shakespeare Program
200 W. Cliff Drive
Suite 14
Santa Cruz
CA 95060
Mandatory Forms:
Directory & Medical Form
Rules and Regulations Form
How To Prepare
A simple monolgue to perform at the auditions is all that is needed. If it can be memorized that would be preferrable, but if not please come and do your best.
Links:-
Monologues for Men
Monologues for Women
Synopsis
Twelfth Night is a comedy by William Shakespeare, named after the Twelfth Night holiday of the Christmas season. It was written
around 1601 and first published in the First Folio in 1623.
Twelfth Night is noted as one of Shakespeare`s most studied and best loved plays: the twin-based comedy of cross-dressing and
mistaken identity is accessible to even novice Shakespeare scholars. However, the play has also garnered much critical attention for
its nuanced and sometimes elusive treatment of issues of gender, ambition, and love.
Illyria, the setting of Twelfth Night, is important to the play`s romantic atmosphere. It is an ancient region on the eastern coast of
the Adriatic Sea covering parts of modern yugoslavia, Montenegro and Albania, but, in the context of allegory, is thought to be an
imaginary place. Illyria is mentioned in one of the source plays for Twelfth Night, Plautus`s Menæchmi, as a place where, as in
Twelfth Night, a twin went looking for his brother. Shakespeare himself mentioned it previously, in Henry VI, Part II, noting its
reputation for pirates.
Like many of Shakespeare`s comedies, this one centres on mistaken identity. The leading character, Viola, is shipwrecked on the
shores of Illyria during the opening scenes. She loses contact with her twin brother, Sebastian, whom she believes dead. Posing as
a man and masquerading as a young page under the name Cesario, she enters the service of Duke Orsino. Orsino is in love with the
bereaved Lady Olivia, whose brother has recently died, and decides to use "Cesario" as an intermediary. Olivia, believing Viola to
be a man, falls in love with this handsome and eloquent messenger. Viola, in turn, has fallen in love with the Duke, who also believes
Viola is a man, and who regards her as his confidant.
When Sebastian arrives on the scene, confusion ensues. Mistaking him for Viola, Olivia asks him to marry her, and they are secretly
betrothed, with a promise to be married when the time is right. Finally, when the twins appear in the presence of both Olivia and the
Duke, there is more wonder and awe at their similarity, at which point Viola reveals she is really a female and that Sebastian is her
lost twin brother. The play ends in a declaration of marriage between the Duke and Viola, Toby and Maria, and Olivia and Sebastian,
though their marriages are never actually seen.
Much of the play is taken up with the comic subplot, in which several characters conspire to make Olivia`s pompous head steward,
Malvolio, believe that his lady Olivia wishes to marry him. It involves Olivia`s uncle, Sir Toby Belch; her would-be suitor, a silly
quire named Sir Andrew Aguecheek; her servants Maria and Fabian; and her father`s favorite fool, Feste. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew
disturb the peace of their lady`s house by keeping late hours and perpetually singing catches at the very top of their voices, prompting
Malvolio to chastise them. This is the basis for Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria`s revenge on Malvolio.
Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and company convince Malvolio that Olivia is secretly in love with him, and write a letter in
Olivia`s hand, asking Malvolio to wear yellow stockings cross-gartered, be rude to the rest of the servants, and to smile in all
circumstances. Olivia, saddened by Viola`s attitude to her, asks for her chief steward, and is shocked by a Malvolio who has seemingly
lost his mind. She leaves him to the contrivances of his tormentors.
Pretending that Malvolio is insane, he is locked up in a room (a common "treatment" for the mentally ill), with a slit for light. Feste
visits him to mock his "insanity", once disguised as the priest, and again as himself. At the end of the play Malvolio learns of their
conspiracy and storms off promising revenge, but the Duke dispatches someone (probably Fabian) to pacify him. Viola is not alone
among Shakespeare`s cross-dressing heroines; in Shakespeare`s theater, convention dictated that adolescent boys play the roles of
female characters, creating humor in the multiplicity of disguise found in a female character who for a while pretended at masculinity.
[1] Viola`s persistence in transvestism through her betrothal in the final scene of the play often engenders a discussion of the possibly
homoerotic relationship between Viola and Orsino. Her impassioned speech to Orsino, in which she describes an imaginary sister who
"sat like patience on a monument, / Smiling at grief" for her love, likewise causes many critics to consider Viola`s attitude of suffering
in her love as a sign of the perceived weakness of the feminine (2.4).
Cast List:
Viola, twin sister to Sebastian. Later called Cesario
Viola is a young woman of aristocratic birth from Messaline, and the play`s primary protagonist. She spends the entire play,
after the early shipwreck scene, disguised as a young man, "Cesario".
Orsino, Duke (or Count) of Illyria
Orsino is a powerful nobleman who governs here (either all of Illyria or at least the country round) (1.2). As the play opens, he has
been pining for the Lady Olivia.
Olivia, a countess
Olivia`s father and brother have recently died, so she is mistress of her grand house and of whatever else an unattached countess
can command. She is in mourning for her brother as the play opens, and uninterested in Orsino`s attempt at courtship.
Sebastian, twin brother to Viola
When Sebastian arrives in Illyria he is constantly mistaken for his sister Viola, who has been going about disguised as a man, called
Cesario.
Maria, a gentlewoman in Olivia`s household
Maria is competent, kind, cynical, spirited, and loyal. Though she works for the Lady Olivia, she has come to love Toby over the years,
and leads him and Feste in their revenge on Malvolio.
Sir Toby Belch, a kinsman of Olivia`s
Sir Toby is related to Olivia, probably her uncle ("what a plague means my niece..." (1.3)). She puts up with his drinking and rowdy
behavior, but does not really care for it.
Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a companion of Sir Toby`s
A rich, but foolish knight from the country who is staying with Toby in hopes of wooing Olivia, but in reality is wasting his money
in incessant revelry at Sir Toby`s behest.
Malvolio, steward to Olivia
Lady Olivia`s sour and straitlaced head servant who is at odds with the rest of her household. He is a puritan, and thus disproves of
most of the characters actions (especially Sir Toby and Sir Andrew`s).
Feste
Feste is a jester in Olivia`s household. The Fool moves between Olivia`s and Orsino`s homes, making jokes, singing songs, and cadging
coins from those that have them. His name is Latin based, and means trick, practical joke, hoax, or to play a joke on somebody.
Fabian
Fabian is attached to Olivia`s household. He comes in where we expect Feste (2.5), and so seems an afterthought.
But he develops as a character as the play goes on.
Antonio, captain, a friend to Sebastian.
Antonio rescued Sebastian from the shipwreck. He is much taken with Sebastian, and accompanies him into Illyria, although he is a wanted man there.
Captain, a sea captain who helps Viola
The captain of the wrecked vessel. He helps Viola by getting her ‹ in her disguise as "Cesario" ‹ to Orsino`s court.
Valentine and Curio, gentlemen attending Orsino
Priest, a Holy Father
The Priest is a minor character who,in the last scene of the play, admits to having performed the wedding ceremony.
Servant, a Maid
The Servant is a minor character that works for Olivia.
Musicians, Lords, Sailors, Officers, and other attendants
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