William Shakespeare’s writing can sometimes be hard to understand, which means that his plays aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. However, Sock ‘n’ Buskin’s rendition of Twelfth Night is universally hilarious and worth seeing, as was proven by the cackling audience on Jan. 20.
Jasmine Stamos plays Viola, a shipwrecked woman who lands in Illyria. With her family presumably drowned, Viola decides to dress as a man so that she may find work and make a living. She soon finds herself in the service of Duke Orsino (Christian Giansante), whose relentless love for Olivia (Rachel Stanley) sparks a crazy love triangle, further complicated by the surprise return of Viola’s twin brother, Sebastian (Matthew Venner). The subplot follows those in Olivia’s court who endeavor to prank her pompous steward.
The funniest thing about this performance was undoubtedly the chemistry between Sir Toby (Lauren Stiers) and Sir Andrew (Sheldon Paul). Stiers and Paul played off each other very well and both had immense stage presence. Their strongest scene was arguably when they were both so drunk that they started making 21st-century references relevant to millennials, which had the students in the audience snorting with laughter.
In contrast, Giansante and Stamos had very little chemistry, though their characters weren’t afforded much in the script. As a result, the main plot was not nearly as funny, but still highly entertaining. Stamos felt genuine as Viola and Stanley felt natural in her role as Olivia. Giansante struggled to convince me at first, but his later scenes and physical comedy solidified his commitment to the character.
Nicholas Hepner had fantastic charisma as the steward Malvolio. He carried himself with such arrogance that watching the others prank him felt only too rewarding. During his soliloquies, he spoke a little fast, making the Shakespearean language slightly harder to understand, but overall he gave a convincing performance.
The definitive stand-out of the play was Molly McGuire as Feste the fool. McGuire was extremely charming, funny, and showed off great musical talent to boot. The use of music in this play was seamless, despite and sometimes because of the use of modern tunes.
Overall, the entire cast did marvelous jobs with their characters. The fact that Venner and Stamos, who play identical twins, look nothing alike only made the hijinks surrounding their mistaken identities that much funnier.
The stage design was simplistic, but effective, letting the actors take central stage (figuratively and sometimes literally). A combination of stage props, the actor’s stage presence, lighting, and sound effects were used to convey what the dialogue couldn’t.
There were maybe a couple of prop mishaps, but the actors reacted so naturally that it was hard to tell if they were legitimate accidents or meticulously planned. Well-directed, well-acted, and generally well-executed, Twelfth Night is guaranteed to entertain and is well-worth your money.
Sock ‘n’ Buskin has three more shows on Jan. 25, 26, and 27 at 7 p.m.
Photos provided
