MIT Shakespeare Ensemble presents Twelfth Night
Shakespeare’s comedy has plenty of laughs
Staly chin
Twelfth Night
MIT Shakespeare Ensemble
La Sala de Puerto Rico
Upcoming:
March 21 — 22: 8 p.m.
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble’s performance of Twelfth Night was hilarious. The play tells the story of Viola, who pretends to be a man to get close to Orsino, whom she loves. However, Orsino loves Olivia, who falls in love with Cesario, who is really Viola — a confusing love triangle at best. For those of you more familiar with popular culture than Shakespeare, you may recall the movie She’s the Man, starring Amanda Bynes, which was based off of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. This production was as humorous as any Shakespearian comedy and was set in an interesting time — the 1960s or 1970s.
Keenan A. Sunderwirth ‘14 , Mark L. Velednitsky ‘14, and Noelle A. Colant ‘17 played the leads Viola, Orsino, and Olivia respectively and were fabulous and very convincing. The fool, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Colin C. Aitken ‘17) and Olivia’s drunken uncle, Sir Toby (Majdolene Z. Khweis ‘15) certainly did their jobs well. I was cracking up every time they took the stage, and they absolutely stole the scene with their antics and shenanigans.
The performance included several musical scenes that elicited intended chuckles from the audience — the fools were effective singers! Of course, my hat goes off to the crew who supplied excellent set pieces, costumes (I have a soft spot for those gaudy 70s-style suits!), lighting, and music — it made for an evening that was definitely worth remembering, and it couldn’t have been done without those working hard behind the curtain.
Although the show opened last week, you still have time to catch it Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in La Sala de Puerto Rico in the Student Center. It was incredibly refreshing and inspiring to get away from psets and papers and indulge in a bit of culture for an evening, so support our arts groups and see Twelfth Night!