TES Theatre is a Musical Theatre Program so it might seem odd that we keep doing Shakespeare plays. Every few years, the participants decide to haul out another Shakespeare classic, and subject it to historical and artistic revision. Why does this keep happening?
People frequently say that Shakespeare is timeless. In some ways this is not at all true. The language, the turns of phrase, and many of the sensibilities and mores of the time do not travel unnoticed across the centuries. Words like ‘doth’ ‘forsooth’ and ‘wherefore’ are neither used nor understood in our twenty first century parlance. And some of the social expectations of Elizabethan England, particularly when it comes to issues of class, royalty, gender, and social position, have shifted beyond the boundaries of the plays.
But at the same time, other things have not changed at all. When people refer to Shakespeare’s plays as timeless, they are often referring to the very human tendencies and behaviours that the bard captures so exquisitely well. The crazy bad judgement brought on by jealousy, the self pitying depths of unrequited romantic yearning, the unfettered hubris of youthful confidence, the wheels-spinning paranoia of conspiracy theory spiraling, the unique hilarity of misunderstandings rooted in mistaken identity…the list goes on. Shakespeare’s insights on human behaviour match his unparalleled wordsmithing to keep his plays relevant indefinitely. Even centuries later, we can still relate to his characters through the words that express their trials, sorrows, hopes, and desires so poignantly.
This time, the TES Theatre students have chosen Twelfth Night, a classic comedy of identity, loyalty, and the complex social interactions between classes, genders, household members, neighbours, and lovers. How do these roles and expectations change when people have incorrect information? When people are not who they claim to be? When loyalties are not what they seem? Beneath the comedic hilarity, this is a play as much about social discovery as self discovery, as characters learn who they are by pretending to be, being mistaken for, and being falsely represented as, who they are not.
But rather than basing this version within a typical Shakespearean time or place, the TES Theatre troupe has posited the cast in 1970’s San Francisco. And added music. This is a rock and roll version of Twelfth Night, with all the laughter and drama dialled to the sensibilities of the disco era, with bell bottoms, peace, and neon.
In some ways, the very issues that would seem to date this play are what keep it modern. Issues of class, leadership, gender, and social position, are as fraught today as they were in 1602. When reset in the 1970’s in urban California, these same issues take on different overtones, and are subject to new depths of political understanding and nuance. But it is Shakespeare’s uncanny depiction of humans behaving as humans that keep the issues in the story just as familiar and relatable no matter when, or where, or to what musical score, they take place. Timeless indeed. And worthy of revisiting again and again.
Twelfth Night: A Musical runs Feb 24 & 25, 2024, at 2pm & 7pmTickets available HERE