Twelfth Night play coming to MRU in March

Spring is right around the corner and many of us are going to take the chance to turn over a new leaf and begin getting down to everything we plan on accomplishing in 2012. This is a concept going back to the years of Shakespeare and will be on full display in the upcoming comedy, Twelfth Night, being presented by the MRU theatre department.

In this Bard’s tale, a young woman named Viola is shipwrecked upon the shores of Illyria, reinvents herself as a man named Cesario and is enlisted by Duke Orsino. The Duke, who is passionately chasing the lovely Lady Olivia, uses Cesario in his courtship. Unfortunately, Olivia falls for Cesario (Viola), who is secretly harbouring feelings for the Duke, who believes her to be a man. The confusion ensues for the majority of the play, with each character getting themselves deeper into trouble.

First year theatre student Kas Nixon fully believes that the show’s humour will help students get past the hesitation of going to see a Shakespearean play, and that depends on using everything the script has given the cast.

“Some of the struggles are using the words to their full effect. Learning the different meanings that some of the words had back then, we used the Shakespearean glossary to help us understand better,” Nixon explains of the process.

However, she knows exactly what elements of the show will help attract students.

“It has a lot of drinking and sex references. Who doesn’t enjoy that?”

The show, running in the Nickle Theatre from March 28 through to April 7, promises to have a beautiful set and wonderful costumes, and tickets are half price during the second week, so students on a budget can go and get entangled in this comedy of mistaken identity.