On 14 November, 32 invited Sixth Form pupils delivered their vibrant performance of Twelfth Night, a Shakespearean comedy both revered and ridiculous, at the Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF). Shakespeare originally wrote Twelfth Night for the close of the Christmas season and to lift spirits in the dreary winter months. The creative process of developing the play was thorough and challenging and few would deny its worth with the Headmaster, Mr Chippington, describing the production as ‘magnificent.’
In the St John’s interpretation of Twelfth Night, the play was set in the roaring 1920s as a wild party including live music and Charleston dancing throughout. The addition of live music truly brought the party to life. A few members of cast stepped out of role to play the trumpet or the drums alongside Ms Harris on the piano. The players then seamlessly stepped back into role, a difficult skill to master. The musicians fully embodied the Duke’s line, ‘if music be the food of love, play on’.
The performance was both unique and memorable and was built upon the skilful incorporation of five silver boxes and the use of lace umbrellas. The boxes transformed into everything from a car to a seat, a chariot to a plinth. They were creatively used throughout the performance alongside the umbrellas which formed mirrors and bushes, they were also vital to the dancing. Costumes added sparkle to the show quite literally with the chorus girls in gloriously glittery 1920s flapper dresses. Other costumes accentuated the roleplay of Viola as a man and assisted the transportation of the audience to the intended period.
Although Twelfth Night is a comedy the cast discovered a darker side to the play. Throughout, various characters mocked and teased Malvolio, with a particularly nasty scene in which he is kidnapped and taken off, sealed in a large box to be hidden ‘in a dark room and bound’. This murkier side was further stressed in the final scene by raucous, hyena-like laughter which was overlapped by an eerie, echoed recording of laughter which concluded the final scene and produced an extremely uncomfortable feeling for the whole audience.
A thoroughly moving spectacle from start to finish, in the words of the audience, St John’s production of Twelfth Night was ‘simply excellent’ and proved to be a ‘fabulous, witty, beautiful and thought provoking’ which will not soon be forgotten.
