UNIT 9

 UNIT 9:

                            Twelfth Night

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare was born in April 15th 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon and attended school at the age of 7. Shakespeare grow up in a privilege home as his father was an equivalent to a mayor in his home town. 

At the age of 15 Shakespeare had left school and fell in love and got married at 18 with 26 year old Anne Hathaway and had 3 children by the time he was 21.

In 1592 William arrived in London as he wanted to pursuit his writing in the city. When he got to London he worked as a writer and player and his plays were played at The Globe. In 1599 the original globe was in Shoreditch on Park street, theatre was called 'The Theatre', the theatre caught fire in 1613 a theatrical cannon had been set of and ignited causing a fire and burnt down the whole theatre. The theatre then had been rebuilt in 1614 , a year after the fire. Like all the other theatres in London, the Globe was closed down by the Puritans in 1642. It was destroyed in 1644 to make room for tenements. The Puritans disapproved of many things in Elizabethan society, and one of the things they hated most was the theatre. Their chief complaint was that  entertainments distracted people from worshipping God, though they also felt that the theatre's increasing popularity symbolized the moral iniquity of city life.

Context

Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) falls in love with the Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her thinking she is a man.

Religious context

Shakespeare has 3 main genres; Comedy, tragedies and histories. Twelfth night is considered as a Shakespearean comedy. Twelfth Night also has religious context behind it, the name was given to the last evening of Christmas celebrations, the 5th of January. It is a Christian festival that has traditionally been a time of revelry and merrymaking, drinking and eating, singing and dancing. Traditions involved mischief by appointing a ‘Lord of Misrule’ for the night, who was normally a servant of the household who everyone then had to obey. The social order was turned upside down and reversed for the night, such as gender roles, clothing and interactions, which can be seen in the depictions of Viola and Malvolio.

Genders

In the Elizabethan era, gender influenced the roles men and women were restricted to. For example, women were not allowed to perform on stage, so young men or boys whose voices had not yet broken were used instead to play female characters. In the case of Twelfth Night, the character of Viola would have been played by a young man dressed up as a woman who dresses up as a man, increasing the humour in the play as a result. In light of this, the play has been known to be referred to as a ‘transvestite comedy’. Viola falls in love with Orsino but cannot tell him, because he thinks she is a man, while Olivia, the object of Orsino’s affection, falls for Viola in her guise as Cesario. There is a clear homoerotic subtext here: Olivia is in love with a woman, even if she thinks he is a man, and Orsino often remarks on Cesario’s beauty, suggesting that he is attracted to Viola even before her male disguise is removed. 

Disguise

When she first finds herself stranded in Ilyria, and she says to the Captain “conceal me what I am”, entrusting only the Captain with her secret. As a young woman who could be vulnerable to attack as IIyria isn't a welcoming place according to Shakespeare as he mentions in the play  , she is also much safer if she is disguised as a man. However, Viola quickly learns the cost of maintaining a disguise. Her intentions and actions are constantly misinterpreted, and she cannot correct these mistakes without betraying her secret. the play also suggests that disguise can serve a positive purpose as well. In a time when women were expected to follow strict rules of social decorum, Viola’s masculine disguise gives her the chance to speak her mind much more freely. 

                                        Rehearsals

When we first started rehearsals, it was very difficult for me as I was in a full class of actors and I didn't want to act as I had the choice to either act or do lighting/sound and stage management Which is what I chose to do as I enjoyed what I had learnt during my first year of production. But it was also difficult for the actors as well as we had all been merged together and it made it harder for the actors to get use to as no one knew each other. 

Our first rehearsals was understanding the play by reading the play and watching many different productions to understand how to play the characters and also to read the script and understand the subtext throughout the script. I found this very difficult for me as I weren't playing a character and my role was stage manager.

As stage manager the main roles and responsibilities are ;

• Create and set up rehearsal schedules
• Managing furniture and props
• Arrange costume and wig fittings
• Liaise with all theatre departments and collate information
• Liaise with Production Manager regarding budgets
• Supervise the ‘get in’ and ‘get out’ (When the set, lighting and sound are installed and removed from the space)
• Create a prompt script compiled with notes on Actors’ cues and requirements for props, lighting and sound
• Make alterations to the set and props between scene changes
• Cue the lighting and Sound Technicians
• Create a risk assessment to ensure the safety of the full company
• Manage the backstage and onstage area during performances
• Call Actors for rehearsals and performances
• Maintain props, furniture and set during the run

As stage manager during our 'Twelfth night' production my main responsibility was to first read and understand the play to then understand the subtext within the play and then make notes for lighting and sound cues. Another responsibility that I had was during Becca's lesson when I had to take the actors to the costume cupboard to let them had a look to see what their character could wear. 

During the end of October a 10 day strike had been put into place and missed a whole week of rehearsals which wasn't good at all especially for my group (group 1) as the actors attendance was really bad , when we had come back to college the actors were very unorganised, absent at rehearsals and didn't know or learn the play. This led to Rob making a shorter version, a devised modern pantomime piece for group 1 which made it much easier for our group as the Shakespearean language was very difficult for the actors and they hadn't learnt their lines. Whilst learning the new devised piece, the actors and dancers were choreographing a dance piece for the 'Ship Wreck' at the beginning of the play, Which gave me time to think about any lighting ideas that would go very well at the beginning of the piece. 

Due to lack of attendance from some actors during rehearsals I had to fill in a during some rehearsals as a character which was fun for me as most of the time during rehearsals I would just sit and watch the actors go over lines and run throughs while I make notes for lighting ideas and read out lines when actors have forgotten their line. One week before the tech rehearsal I got to go into the gallery for the first time in months since coming back from first year and I got to just familiarise myself with the lighting desk and made a few lighting states from the notes and ideas that I had made during rehearsals and also asking a few of the actors and dancers what they wanted in their show. 

Tech rehearsals

Unfortunately for the first tech rehearsal I couldn't attend due to me having covid symptoms I didn't attend just to be safe, But Ezra from year 2 last year had come in to help with the show because I needed help with someone on the sound desk.

When I had come back to college on the day before the show, Ezra told me he had used the lighting states/cues I had already made the week before. I had also read the notes in the script that was left for Ezra while I wasn't there and all the lighting and sound cues so I was more comfortable and prepared before the run through so I knew when the next lighting and sound cues were. As we was running through the tech Josh from year 1 also helped me and Ezra with the tech and work on the sound desk for the first time and done really well while I was on the lighting desk and Ezra was reading the script and cueing us when to be ready and when to go. 

                                 Evaluation 

During my unit 9 I decided to take on the role of a stage manager as I had a choice to either be a character in the play or be stage manager and do lighting and sound. As I was ill i couldn't do all the lighting states Ezra had come in to help out with the the tech rehearsal but had still used the lighting states that I had already made. 

The first scene was the 'ship wreck' dance, I used all the blue batons and the LEDs to give it the effect that they were at sea. at the start of the dance it was completely blue without any profiles then half way through the dance the profiles were added for the dancers to be seen a little bit more