Twelfth Night

There's really no underestimating the talents of University students, especially when it comes to theater. Why bother with Broadway when it's in the backyard? The Rutgers Theater Company, comprised of Mason Gross School of the Arts students, presented an unorthodox interpretation of Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night. The performances took place last week in the Victoria J. Masterbuono Theater as part of a yearlong program, in which Rutgers students travel to the United Kingdom to learn and act in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Love triangles become more complicated when an author adds twins into the mix. Twelfth Night takes place in Illyria, where Duke Orsino (Ryan Neely) pines for the affections of Lady Olivia (Kotryna Gecaite/Jevonnah C. Mayo). His page Cesario is actually the shipwrecked Viola (Eliza Martin Simpson/Jermilya R. Daivs), who believes her twin brother Sebastian (Barron B. Bass) drowned. Her new job is to mediate love messages from the duke to Olivia, who falls for Viola instead. Meanwhile, Viola develops fondness for her lord, and in the background, servants and fools create mischief. The play's undertones of homosexuality are partially masked by its outrageous characters and makes one wonder what 17th-century audiences thought of its bawdy humor.

What is always most piquing about a Shakespeare production is the company's interpretation of the script. As Twelfth Night is a comedy, the cast and director Timothy Walker chose to take many liberties with the play in order to make it more modern, switching out tabors for acoustic guitars. Purists might consider the squirt guns, harmonicas and "bro" handshakes a mockery of the text, but their interpretation worked with the audience and the tone of the story. In one instance, the uptight Malvolio (Justin Blake Broido), Olivia's servant, was analyzing the handwriting of a false love letter planted by the impish maid Maria (Caitlin York Rigney/Al-nisa J. Petty) and ostensibly from the Lady Olivia. In the original script, he comments on the verisimilitude of the c's, u's and t's. The company altered the lines to include another strategically salacious letter (figure it out for yourself). In addition, RTC represented Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Ryan Zachary Ward) as a wild-wild-west cowboy, lending a twang to lines like, "O, if I thought that, I'd beat him like a dog!" The fool Feste (Christopher Sears) was an audience favorite with his ridiculous costumes — a karate uniform, happy face tighty-whiteys, a marching band getup — and cockamamie antics.

After having performed two Shakespearean comedies in a row (Midsummer Night's Dream was last year's play), one wonders how the company would handle a more serious play, like Hamlet orOthello. These are the plays that evoke emotion over laughter. How would they represent the utter despair of King Lear as his world falls apart around him or the Macbeth's horror upon realizing his hands will never be clean of blood? To do that successfully would be the mark of true acting. RTC, we await the day with baited breath.