Production by Stage II of DeLand, Florida & The Storybook Theater Company of DeLand, Florida
Public Performances on // Spring Tour to Middle School and High Schools March 26-April 6 All Public Performances at Sands Theater Center of the Cultural Arts Center in DeLand, Florida
William Shakespeare composed Twelfth Night; or What You Will in either 1600 or 1601 as the last of his three "mature comedies" (the other two being Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It). Like his early comedies, The Comedy of Errors or The Taming of the Shrew for instance,Twelfth Night is essentially a celebration of romantic love and can be viewed as a traditional romantic comedy. The play has many of the elements common to Elizabethan romantic comedy, including the devices of mistaken identity, separated twins, and gender-crossing disguise, and its plot revolves around overcoming obstacles to "true" love. And, like other representatives of the genre, Twelfth Night also features a subplot in which a self-inflated "sour" or "blocking" character, the steward Malvolio, is brought to his knees through a trick orchestrated by a ribald if also self-inflated character in the person of Sir Toby Belch. But unlike his early comedies, Shakespeare also strikes some discordant notes in Twelfth Night, including a conception of love and other themes that are not part of the conventional romantic comedy formula. Thus, for example, the subject of insanity surfaces as a salient theme and as a force within the plot. Indeed, while Twelfth Night concludes with tandem weddings, Shakespeare also speaks about the madness of love.
Cast
Director Biography
Production Company Information
Audition Information
Sands Theater Center Stage II will hold auditions for William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at 7 p.m. Jan. 28 and 29 at the Sands Theater Center at the Cultural Arts Center, 600 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand. Needed are men and women of various ages from late teens up. Auditions will begin with group workshops so actors should arrive on time. Actors will be paid a stipend and must be available during the day for high school performances March 26-April 6. Public performances will be March 24-April 1. Audrey Coldron will direct. Auditioners are encouraged to attend Coldron's Shakespeare workshop from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 27. Further information is available at 904-738-7156.