9/13/2023 0 Comments Uva shakespeare first folioProbably based on the 1531 Sienese comedy Gl’ingannati ( The Deceived) and first performed in 1601-02, Twelfth Night or, What You Will is a marvelous comedy of mistaken identities, instant infatuations, drunken revelries, cruel practical jokes, and the narcissism of the peacock-proud and incurably pompous Malvolio (played here by Carroll Credle).Įncyclopædia Britannica summarizes the plot as follows: “Twins Sebastian and Viola are separated during a shipwreck off the coast of Illyria each believes the other dead. The same troupe performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, another uproarious romantic comedy by the Immortal Bard, June 20, 21, in Southern Village. 14, 15, 18, 21, 22, and 25 on the Market Street lawn in Southern Village in Chapel Hill, NC. The Agora Players, formed in February 2004 to give people of all ages and levels of experience a chance to perform classic theater pieces, will present a free outdoor production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, directed by Julia Hundt, Aug. Shakespeare Resources (University of Virginia). Note: The audience is encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. on the Market Street lawn in Southern Village, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Agora Players present Twelfth Night Thursday, Aug. But the interludes of swordplay devised by fight coordinator Jonathan Bratten and fight choreographer Jessica Hiltabidle would be more authentic if Sir Toby and Sir Andrew were crossing blades with someone closer to their stature. One of the highlights of the evening was Walker’s impish impersonation of Sir Topaz the Curate, speaking to poor, put-upon, unjustly imprisoned Malvolio in the cadences of a backwoods Southern preacher on a tear.įiddlers Gordon Emerson and Rhionnon Jones’ live performance of the show’s original score by Kate Slattery adds a nice touch to director Julia Hunt’s rollicking reimagination of this classic comedy and costume designer Rebecca Bratten has outfitted the cast in an impressive array of Renaissance duds. Jessica Hiltabidle is much more persuasive as Antonia, the courageous pirate captain who risks her life by accompanying her new friend Sebastian to Illyria, where she is numbered among Illyria’s Most Wanted.Īfrican-American actor Dante Walker adds to his reputation as one of the Triangle’s finest actors with a loose-limbed, strutting, Southern-fried comic characterization of Feste the Fool, who impertinently talks back to Duke Orsino and Lady Olivia and eagerly participates in even the most devilish practical jokes devised by Maria, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew to torment Olivia’s steward, the pompous, puritanical Malvolio (Carroll Credle in, perhaps, the funniest performance of his career to date). Kendall Rileigh’s characterization of the Lady Olivia’s mischievous chambermaid and confidant Maria is a bit screechy and she is too definitely tall for her the drunken Sir Toby, who fervently chases Maria until she catches him. Beside the undersized Transue and Rolle, Kate Slattery is a veritable giant. Thomas Transue is a pint-sized Sir Toby Belch, and Ted Rolle III is just a slip of a boy as Olivia’s disagreeable but persistent fortune-hunting suitor Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Indeed, he bears an uncanny likeness - in height, build, and hair color - to Slattery, although his swashbuckling Sebastian is in stark contrast to Viola’s more cerebral Cesario. Slattery is good as the shipwrecked Viola, cross-dressing for safety and pretending to be a youth named Cesario and Sante Piracci, who plays Viola’s shipwrecked brother Sebastian, also cuts a fine figure. When a handsome new boy named Cesario (Kathleen Slattery) arrives at her gate, bearing unwelcome love notes from the Duke, Bratten’s Olivia is immediately hot to trot - even vixenish - when a little less eagerness to couple would be more becoming to the lady whom she plays. Indeed, Shakespeare under the stars in Southern Village in Chapel Hill is a bracing antidote for the hot and humid Dog Days of summer, North Carolina style.īrian Luukinen makes a regal Duke Orsino but Rebecca Bratten is less satisfactory as the elusive object of the Duke’s affections, the melancholy and aloof Lady Olivia, still swathed in black and mourning the death of her beloved father and brother. Despite some uneven acting, the current Agora Players outdoor presentation of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night - under the direction of Julia Hundt - brightens the summer night in the Southern Part of Heaven.
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