‘Twelfth Night’ @ Shakespeare Dallas

Francine Gonzalez as Viola; see a show (Odyssey) AND fireworks on July 4!

—Hannah Kneen

Shakespeare Dallas is running Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night (with direction by Rob Clare) in tandem with the season’s lively “other” show, playwright Mary Zimmerman’s Scenes From ‘The Odyssey.’ If you aren’t familiar with this story about the strange adventures of a brother-sister pair of twins, you should definitely put it on your watch list—it’s a classic for good reason.

The play begins with a shipwreck, stranding a young woman named Viola (Francine Gonzalez) in a place called Illyria. Believing herself the only survivor, Viola decides to disguise herself as a man for safety, and to enter into the service of Count Orsino (Caleb Mosley). She would have forgone the disguise and gone to serve the beautiful Lady Olivia (Mikaela Baker) but the Lady has been in mourning for her brother and refuses visitors.

Disguised as the young man “Cesario,” Viola is sent by the Count to court his lady love Olivia. Olivia has been rejecting Orsino’s suits but upon meeting Cesario, she falls rapidly in love with the “young man.” Meanwhile, Viola has fallen for Orsino, who obviously cannot return her affections as she is still disguised as Cesario. This tangled love triangle gets further complicated when Viola’s identical twin brother Sebastian (Eric Garcia) turns up, and is immediately mistaken for his disguised sister. Obviously, he survived the shipwreck and, like Viola, thought his twin lost.

While all this is happening among the nobility, the people of Olivia’s household have their own plots afoot. Sir Toby Belch (Shawn Gann) has been partying hard and leeching off of the foolish Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Sean M. Lewis). Olivia’s steward Malvolio (Michael Johnson) has an unpleasant confrontation with Sir Toby and his cohort and they want revenge. Olivia’s gentlewoman Maria (Francesca Santodomingo) leads Sir Toby and company in a clever plot against Malvolio, one that makes such a fool of him he ends up thrown in a dungeon.

As a whole, the ensemble played their parts well. I was particularly impressed with Mikaela Baker’s performance as Olivia. She does a great job of balancing Olivia’s nobility with the more relatable aspects of a woman who is very inconveniently in love. Feste the fool (Ryan Michael Friedman) is a challenging role, and Friedman handles it very well. Michael Johnson’s Malvolio is suitably fun to watch as he is made a fool of—but he also manages to tug some heartstrings when the mockery goes too far. Francesca Santodomingo’s Maria and Shawn Gann’s Toby are easy to root for, especially in the beginning. The interesting thing about the Malvolio subplot in this play is how it turns from fun to sinister—perhaps a bit abruptly in this production, but it still made an impact.

The costumes for Twelfth Night were a little difficult to place, though Adrian Churchill’s set design and Lori Honeycutt’s lighting design both worked quite well. Mason York’s sound design was one of my favorite parts of the show’s technology—in part because music plays such a big role in the show (composed by music director Fernando Hernandez), and it’s rare that I’ve seen it as well handled as it was in this production.

Feste’s songs blended into the show nicely, and were performed flawlessly by Friedman. There were also some actors on stage with instruments (keyboard, saxophone, drum, etc.) that provided some sound at well-chosen moments during the play. Finally, Feste’s song at the end built up and ended the play pleasantly. The music in Twelfth Night is a stumbling block for a lot of productions, but in this one it worked perfectly.

If you’re planning to go, remember that it’s Shakespeare…in the park… in Texas… during the summer. It is hot. Don’t worry, though. If you come packing some cold drinks and a few ice packs, it is manageable. And it’s definitely worth braving the heat to see such a classic show.

WHEN: June 21 - July 21, 2024 (two shows run in rotation; check schedule)
WHERE: Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre, 1500 Tenison Pkwy., Dallas
WEB: www.shakespearedallas.org