JHUT Shakespeare pleases audience
Subtlety is seldom one of the driving principles of the Johns Hopkins University Theater's recent production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will. This is not an objection - in fact, it's quite the opposite. In spite of the verbal jousting that constitutes much of its script, the play remains one of the more accessible and least ambiguous of Shakespeare's major comedies. Overwrought period scenery and understated acting - both of which this rendition wisely avoids - would have done poor service to the work's agile combination of caricature, celebration and near-implausibility.
In other words, director and theater instructor James Glossman and his student actors have approached their material with the appreciation of the Bard's purposes that is the foremost requirement of any good take on Shakespeare. Though already well-supplied with moments of outsized emotion, not to mention the occasional beating or personal humiliation, the cast of this Twelfth Night also endeavors - admirably but somewhat distractingly - to unearth the satiric or dramatic wealth of minor roles and minor moments. Yet even the production's full-throttle scenes are nicely coordinated, and even the most emotional lines are delivered with unimpeachable precision. Time and time again, the latest show to hit the Merrick Barn verges on becoming too much of a good thing. And time and time again, the dedication and discipline of its cast pulls it back from the brink.
Twelfth Night runs along several unruly storylines that eventually and deftly converge. The first scenes present the Duke of Illyria, Orsino (junior Scott Morse), pining over the countess Olivia (senior Justine Wiesinger), who has refused his courtship. As he mopes to violin music (here provided by senior Anu Seshadri in a small role), a young lady named Viola (senior Julie Sihilling) finds herself shipwrecked on the Illyrian coast. She enters Orsino's household disguised as a boy and becomes the count's ambassador to Olivia - who, in turn, falls for Viola in her male guise. Later on, the sea captain Antonio (senior Joseph Micali) rescues Viola's twin, Sebastian (sophomore Eric Levitz in a really bad wig), from the seas. They too come to Illyria, setting off an explosion of ruses and revelations that would require a review twice this size to fully describe.
In other words, director and theater instructor James Glossman and his student actors have approached their material with the appreciation of the Bard's purposes that is the foremost requirement of any good take on Shakespeare. Though already well-supplied with moments of outsized emotion, not to mention the occasional beating or personal humiliation, the cast of this Twelfth Night also endeavors - admirably but somewhat distractingly - to unearth the satiric or dramatic wealth of minor roles and minor moments. Yet even the production's full-throttle scenes are nicely coordinated, and even the most emotional lines are delivered with unimpeachable precision. Time and time again, the latest show to hit the Merrick Barn verges on becoming too much of a good thing. And time and time again, the dedication and discipline of its cast pulls it back from the brink.
Twelfth Night runs along several unruly storylines that eventually and deftly converge. The first scenes present the Duke of Illyria, Orsino (junior Scott Morse), pining over the countess Olivia (senior Justine Wiesinger), who has refused his courtship. As he mopes to violin music (here provided by senior Anu Seshadri in a small role), a young lady named Viola (senior Julie Sihilling) finds herself shipwrecked on the Illyrian coast. She enters Orsino's household disguised as a boy and becomes the count's ambassador to Olivia - who, in turn, falls for Viola in her male guise. Later on, the sea captain Antonio (senior Joseph Micali) rescues Viola's twin, Sebastian (sophomore Eric Levitz in a really bad wig), from the seas. They too come to Illyria, setting off an explosion of ruses and revelations that would require a review twice this size to fully describe.
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