Love and Lust and Laughs….Oh my! “Twelfth Night” is set to hit Jarman Auditorium for a one week only performance on February 17. The classic tale of mistaken identity and misplaced affections is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies.
When Viola is unable to locate her twin brother, Sebastian, after a shipwreck, she disguises herself as him in order to survive. While in disguise, she falls madly in love with Duke Orsino. Meanwhile, the duke has strong feelings for a countess named Olivia, who ends up unknowingly falling in love with the disguised Viola.
When Twelfth Night was originally created, all roles were performed by men. Now of course many actresses have taken on these iconic roles. Here at Longwood Kasey Gilszczynski (Olivia), Jordan Howell (Mariah), and Lorin Turner (Viola) are poised and ready for their Shakespearean premieres.
For all three women their characters are a bit out of their comfort zones. Howell, a self-described quiet and quirky girl, admits that playing the sassy Mariah was a challenge. “It’s been a lot of fun finding that side of me and really bringing it out and making it big and going for it,” Said Howell.
Gilszczynski plays the love struck Olivia, she says that playing a harder and more angry character fits more comfortably in her wheelhouse. In order to find her demure side, Gilszczynski used a non-traditional technique.
“So the director (Bruce Speas) asked what makes you happy, what makes you giddy and the only thing I could think of on the spot was hamsters. I’ve been picturing little, furry hamster running around the stage and in my hands during my love scenes,” Said Gilszczynski.
Meanwhile Turner has to make arguably the biggest transformation of all, when asked what the biggest challenge of finding her character is she laughed and replied matter of factly, “I’m playing a dude.”
Turner is so committed to her role as a woman disguised as her twin brother that she is even cutting off her long hair in order to more closely resemble the actor playing her brother. While playing a leading a role in a Shakespeare show is certainly full of less vain challenges, Turner admits that her decision to alter her appearance is making her just a little anxious.
“I am freaking out!” Said Turner, with a nervous laugh. “It was something that the costume designers just asked ya know, ‘would you do this, would cut your hair?’ And I was like sure. The closer it gets to actually happening, I’m very nervous.”
Despite the looming sound of long locks of hair hitting the floor, all three actresses seem ecstatic to open the show they have been putting in long hours for. The cast and crew have been working since the day the spring semester began, not to mention spending their winter breaks memorizing those tricky Shakespearean lines. With all their hard work they are chomping at the bit to show off what they have created.
“You’ve got a man that wrote this script so many hundreds of years ago,” Said Howell. “Then all these different people with their own costume ideas and own set ideas and everything just comes together to create a world and for the audience to come in to and be a part of. I want them to have a blast.”
Twelfth Night will run Wednesday February 17 through Saturday at 7pm, with a Sunday matinee at 3pm in Jarman Auditorium. Tickets can be bought at the door or online through the Longwood Theatre homepage.
