While winter sweeps in the cold air and lingering darkness, Trinity Repertory Company's production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" is sure to throw the audience into gusts of warm laughter with its feverishly energetic — if at times too hysterical — characters.
The play, which runs through March 7, opens with a crowd of jubilant characters raising their voices to the celebration and spirit of the Christmas season. Their smiles are contagious and their enthusiasm and happiness effusive, as people tap their feet, smile and laugh in sync with the cast.
Even for those who have never read the play, there is no doubt that these voices and expressions already signify a light-hearted story to come.
What gives rise to such exuberance are the somewhat confusing yet irresistibly fascinating twists and turns of the plot.
The play is centered around the quest for love, complicated by cross-dressing and mistaken identity. Viola, a girl dressed as a boy, is a servant to the Duke of Illyria, with whom she is in love. The object of the Duke's infatuation is Lady Olivia, who, in turn, falls in love with Viola, thinking she is a man.
Misunderstandings abound as people confuse Viola and her lost twin, Sebastian, both played convincingly by Cherie Corinne Rice GS. There is also a hilarious — if somewhat poignant — scene based around the public embarrassment of Lady Olivia's blindly infatuated and faithful steward, Malvolio, played by Clinical Professor of Theatre, Speech and Dance Brian McEleney, who also directed the show. McEleney was outrageously bold in the classic comedic role, and clearly engaged in his performance.
In simple terms, "Twelfth Night" is a tale about falling in love, making true confessions, admitting mistakes, solving misunderstandings and then falling in love all over again.
In flurries of ridiculous movements, with hands flailing, feet tripping and bodies colliding, the characters are fascinating in their silliness, perhaps in part to compensate for their sometimes extreme obnoxiousness.
Perhaps the most shameless character, Lady Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby, never hesitates in jumping and flailing his arms in the air or doubling in maniacal fits of contagious giggles — behavior that might be the result of the character's proclivity for gulping down bottles of wine. Fred Sullivan Jr. perfectly embodies the brazen Sir Toby.
Beyond the general characterization of mere silliness, there lies within each character a deeper layer, only to be uncovered by the onset of love and passion. Who would expect the arrogant Lady Olivia to transform after falling in love, symbolically trading her black velvet dress for a deep red one as she stumbles around the stage in total infatuation and disbelief?
Meanwhile, Lady Olivia's faithful steward, not realizing himself caught in a trick, sheds his stoic, formal demeanor and blooms into an unabashedly happy and hilarious caricature, all for the sake of love.
Just like its multi-layered characters, the play reveals its substance beyond the obvious comedy. Between the scenes of humorous trickery, there are gripping moments as the characters declare their love and make poignant confessions.
While each character is different, they are united by their passion and their determination to find love.
Interspersed throughout the play are musical moments, including songs sung by the Clown, played by Chair of MFA Programs Stephen Berenson, and several piano pieces. The play's other music also includes "Twelve Days of Christmas" by Walter Afanasieff and Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You."
Tucked away in a magical world, one of Shakespeare's best, the play temporarily relieves the memory of the wintry, dark world outside. The two-act play, which lasts for two hours and 40 minutes with intermission, brings plenty of moments that will fascinate, stimulate, cheer and, most of all, exultingly surprise and raise the audience to their feet.
As Curt Columbus, the show's art director, commented in the media program, "We are drawn to the very quality of the thing that is lacking, pouring out the opposite light to fill the darkness."
