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Arts & Entertainment

Have Twice the Fun with "Twelfth Night"

Shakespeare '70 returns to Shakespeare's classic romantic comedy

When asked how you go about casting twins when preparing a production of “Twelfth Night,” Frank Erath replies with what he promises isn’t a flip answer.

“The answer is, don’t ask,” he says.

Watching “Twelfth Night,” which Erath is directing for Shakespeare ’70 at Kelsey Theatre July 1-10, requires a good deal of suspension of disbelief. You have to accept that a set of twins, one a woman, one a man, look exactly alike. Then the Bard throws in the coincidence of having them wearing identical outfits, making it impossible for the other characters to tell them apart.

In the play, twins Viola and Sebastian are separated in a shipwreck. Viola ends up in the kingdom of Illyria and believing her brother is dead, disguises herself as a man in order to hide her identity. She calls herself Cesario and takes a job with Count Orsino.

Orsino asks Viola to bring a message to Olivia, the woman he loves but Olivia won’t get involved with anyone because she’s mourning her brother. Yet Olivia falls in love with “Cesario” (who’s really Viola). As it turns out Sebastian is very much alive and also ends up in Illyria, where he gets attacked, then proposed to by Olivia.

“It requires an effort on the part of the audience to play along with the gag, so to speak,” Erath says of all the antics surrounding the twins. “And that’s part of the charm of romantic comedy. We have to involve the audience so much in Shakespeare’s words and the story line that he’s given us to work with, that the audience will forget about things. Clearly, Sebastian doesn’t look like Viola; if you stand them up next to each other and say, Are those twins, you would have to answer no. But in the context of the play, you have to say, Oh, absolutely.”

Befitting its name, Shakespeare ’70 began in 1970 and produces classic works, including an annual summer production of a Shakespeare play.

This marks the 40th anniversary of the group’s first staging of “Twelfth Night.” Erath doesn’t hesitate in calling it Shakespeare’s best romantic comedy.

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It certainly came during a hot streak, right around the time he wrote “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “King Lear” and “Macbeth.” “He pretty much knew all he had to know by the time he was writing ‘Twelfth Night,’” Erath says.

Despite its complicated-sounding plot, “Twelfth Night,” is a pretty accessible play. It’s a pure comedy about love, something everyone can relate to, and the language is fairly easy to follow.

“It’s romance and everybody in this play is in love with something, even Malvolio who’s in love with himself, and it’s a comedy,” Erath says. The play’s famous comic characters include the drunkard Sir Toby Belch and the non-too-bright Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

Shakespeare ’70 has presented “Twelfth Night” a few times since that first performance 40 years ago. Erath says that in directing it again, he brings back things from past productions while also looking for new touches.

“There are things, little gags that we have done before, that we are reintroducing into the play,” he says. “And sometimes things happen even if I don’t reintroduce them because the actor playing the part this time finds the same inspiration that the other actor did the last time around.”

One new bit this year involves a scene in which the imprisoned Malvolio asks Feste, the court jester, for a pen and ink so that he can write a letter to Olivia. In rehearsing the scene, Pat Albanesius, the actor playing Feste, suggested that his character ask for a coin form Malvolio, because other characters give him coins throughout the show. Erath liked the idea and even liked it more when later on, Albanesius suggested that Feste return the coin.

The cast also features Emily West as Viola, Heather Duncan as Olivia, Dan Keyser as Orsino, George Hartpence as Malvolio and Dale Simon as Sir Toby Belch.

“The play is still fresh and new, and we have all new people doing it,” Erath says. “Even though some of them are veterans of the company, they’ve never been in the roles that they’re playing before. Everyone is different and everyone is fresh.”

Shakespeare ’70 is presenting Twelfth Night at Kelsey Theatre on the campus of Mercer County Community College, July 1-10. Performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $14, $12 seniors, $10 seniors/children; 609-570-3333;www.kelseyatmccc.org.

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