TINTON FALLS – Filled with mischief and romance, Ranney Thespians’ production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is set as a traditional Elizabethan comedy.
The production will be presented at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 16-17, at the Ranney School’s Panther Hall on the Hope Road campus.
Directed by John Doyle, with lighting and technical design by Kevin Cotter, the production is the perfect play to see this weekend with family and friends. By special arrangement with the band HEM and The Public Theater in New York City, Ranney School’s production features the same music used in The Public Theater’s 2009 production, which starred Anne Hathaway and Audra McDonald.
The comedic action involves Viola (Katie Gill), a young woman who must disguise herself as a man, “Cesario.” Just when she thinks things can’t get any worse, she falls in love with Duke Orsino (Jacob Wahba). Orsino loves Countess Olivia (Maddie Fabricant) who has vowed never to love a man again. But naturally, Olivia falls in love with “Caesario.” This lovers’ knot becomes tangled when Viola’s twin brother Sebastian (Jerome Cohen) arrives in Illyria and is mistaken for “Caesario.”
Meanwhile, the locals in Illyria are celebrating the Twelfth Night Festival. Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby Belch (Ben Puvalowski), carouses with Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Jack Fink), Maria (Elinor Haney), Feste the Clown (Sophia Jackman) and Fabian (Tessa Payer), much to the chagrin of Olivia’s uptight butler, Malvolio (Noah Goldstein). Mayhem ensues as mistaken identities are revealed to all.
