RATING>> A DULL 4 out of 10 SWORDS On Thursday, March 10, the Newman Players presented Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for the last time at the STM Auditorium. The directors Thora Gudmundson and Nicole Roy attempted to take the Twelfth Night and set it in "an illustrious (and fictitious) Hollywood movie studio in 1939" (in class handout), and, for the most part, were successful.
If one were planning to attend this play, I would suggest reading Shakespeare's Twelfth Night before hand. Going into this condensed 1939 version of Twelfth Night without any prior knowledge of the play (as I did) is tough. There is next to no time allotted for one to get familiar with the characters as the play quickly jumps from scene to scene. After the first half, I was still trying to sort out whose uncle was whose and where the hell this jester kept coming from. The one and only backdrop was frankly quite boring and insufficient.
English: Scene from the play "Twelfth Night" by Wi...
A Scene from Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare:...
English: Olivia, character in Twelfth Night by Wil...The scenes constantly changed in the studio, on the beach, traveling across the country, or in town. As far as the plot summary goes, quite honestly, I had to go home and read a quick 'coles notes' version of Twelfth Night before I could really put things together. The costumes were not flattering, especially Olivia's dresses, and the true sense of 1939 was never captured. For instance, a sword fight in 1939? (Yeah right!) Something such as a gun dual might have been more appropriate in this time frame.
The best part of the play was it's comedy, which is good considering it is a romantic comedy. Actor Wade Lahoda, was simply hilarious. He played the part of Sir Toby, a fun-going, party-loving, uncle. And not to be outdone, actor Jon Gudmundson was a sidesplitting steward named Malvolio. I...