Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

When the name of William Shakespeare is spoken one usually associates his name with tragedy. The play Twelfth Night proves this wrong. Revolving around physical humor and witty exchanges, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is an accomplished comedy. The play begins when twins Viola and Sebastian are shipwrecked on the island of Illyria. Thinking her brother Sebastian is dead, Viola masquerades as a male servant in Duke Orsino's palace. This charade is successful until she is asked to play matchmaker between Duke Orsino and his love interest Olivia. This backfires on Viola when Olivia falls for her instead. It is only when the twins are reunited that the problem is resolved. In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare takes the audience on a topsy-turvy journey through love and mistaken identity.

During the month of February, the Department of Theater and Television Arts of Valparaiso University presented William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night directed by John Szostek. Mr. Szostek graduated from Valparaiso University in 1972 and is a professional theater artist from Chicago. He is a seasoned veteran of the theater and has recently won an Emmy Award for his work in Beyond the Magic Door. Below is the interview we conducted with Mr. Szostek:

1. Why did you come to Valpo to direct?

I was invited by John Paul, Chairman of the Dept. I also enjoyed directing "Servant of Two Masters" last year and have found the students at Valpo to be dedicated and hard workers.

2. Have you done Shakespeare in the past?

I have acted in "Romeo and Juliet" and have directed an evening of scenes from Shakespeare. I performed in Stratford Upon Avon in England in Geoffrey Buckley's Commedia Dell' Arte Gelosi Troupe. I look forward to directing the "Tempest" and a tragi-comic "Hamlet" some day.

3. How did you incorporate certain modern ideas into your production of Twelfth Night?

I was attracted to setting the play in 1915, England because there was the threat of war, changing attitudes about gender roles, a great interest in social dancing, the Lusitania was sunk that year and the costume/fashion trend was quite beautiful. I felt that setting it in Elizabethan times would make it too dark and placing it in a fanciful place would not give the sense of realism I wanted.

4. What techniques do you use as a director to motivate your actors?

I use a method of building a team which was developed by Arica Institute as well as their method of physical conditioning called Psycho calisthenics. I have worked in the human potential field for 25 years and use tools outside of the usual theatrical means to make an ensemble. I feel certain that a high level of ensemble can be obtained in a short period of time if certain objective tools are used. Motivation comes as a result of experiencing that one has more potential than one believed. It becomes attractive to do ones best. It is an old saying that theater is a struggle for consciousness, well I work to take the struggle out of it. It is related to Maslow's Theory of Peak Experience. The difference here is that we work toward the peak being ordinary experience.

5. Did you let actors improvise on stage during the show?

We said nothing about improvisation except that it was understood that the actor playing Feste could improvise. It was essential for that character to actually play "out of time." Everyone else worked on subtle expressions of emotion and feeling which required intense concentration.

6. Will you be directing anything in the future here at Valpo?

Yes, but what has not been announced. Suffice it to say it will be revolutionary.
 


Here is a list of links relating to Twelfth Night:

  • Twelfth Night Info
  • Shakespearean Insults
  • Full Script of Twelfth Night
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