There’s no better work that flawlessly combines romance, drama and humor than Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” and this past weekend, the University of Connecticut’s Dramatic Producing, Acting, Writing Students (PAWS) put on an incredible production of it. Audiences had three opportunities to watch this marvelous show. All three shows took place at the Andre Schenker Lecture Hall.
Dozens of students worked together to bring “Twelfth Night” to the stage. The play was directed by Patrick Minnerly, a fourth-semester political science and English double major who is also the associate opinion editor at The Daily Campus. There were five students who worked on the production’s creative team: Laysha Abikarram, stage manager, Melanie Moresi, technical director, Kim Langlais, prop designer, April Bitetti, costume designer and Aslin Wolfe, prop master.
There was also a cast featuring 13 students. The leading roles, Viola and Sebastian, were played by Zelda Zynszajn, a second-semester acting major, and Adlien Ekman, a second-semester student who’s currently on the pre-teaching track for elementary education.
Emily Bonner, a second-semester environmental science student who played Fabian and Valentine, said she had a great time being in the student cast.
“It was a very fun experience,” Bonner said. “I’m glad I did it.”
“Twelfth Night” encompasses a mixture of jocosity and seriousness. It tells the story of twins Viola and Sebastian, who get in a shipwreck. Both twins survive, but they get separated from each other. In the story, Viola disguises herself as a man and ends up falling for Duke Orsino. Orsino, however, is in love with Olivia, and sends Viola to wingman on his behalf.
Throughout the play, many complicated relationships evolve. Towards the end of it, all these relationships are magnificently untangled.
Each character in the production has their own unique personality. Viola and Olivia(played by Amelie Lambert), are both characters more on the serious side. They don’t have much playfulness. However, their bold voices and sharp body language make them intriguing characters.
Orsino, played by Marc DeBrito, a contributor at The Daily Campus, is also a sterner character. However, he has some of the most vigorous lines in the play. A chunk of the lines he has are about love and spirit. DeBrito did an excellent job playing the character. His Shakespearian accent was impeccable, and the determination he brought to the stage was striking.
While some of “Twelfth Night’s” characters have humorless vibes, other characters have personalities full of sarcasm and comedy. Those characters are Feste the Fool, played by Alyssa Cook, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, played by Emma Ho, and Sir Toby Belch, played by Lara Gordon.
Feste the Fool is an “all-seriousness-aside” character who brings nothing but satire to everything he says. In the play, he performs uproarious acts. One of those acts is foolishly posing as an elderly traveler. There are also various moments where Feste the Fool sings in a highly flat tone. Cook’s performance was on point, and filled the lecture hall with hilarity and amusement.
Like Feste the Fool, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Sir Toby Belch were characters that made the audience snicker every time they appeared. They’re drunk in every bit of the play, and their behavior frequently irritates other characters. One scene that displays this is when they foolishly dance to one of Feste the Fool’s songs. Olivia and a few other characters become livid by their dancing, resulting in them chasing the two men all around the lecture hall.
While “Twelfth Night” is mostly full of comedy, it has scenes that aren’t diverting. There are a few moments where characters such as Olivia and Orsino argue with each other, and there are some sword fights.
Overall, the play was tremendously stirring. Each student in the cast did a fantastic job portraying their characters’ personalities.
Cana Kumi, an eighth-semester psychology and economics student, said she enjoyed the show.
“I thought it was really good,” Kumi said. “All the performances were really nice.”
Kumi also said she loved the fact that she got to see a Shakespeare production.
“It was nice to see a Shakespeare play,” Kumi said. “There have been other productions they’ve done. But for this one, I really like how it all came together.”