Twelfth Night Review

Old Story Plays New
Review of Yale Repertory Theatre’s Play “Twelfth Night”
By William Shakespeare, Directed by James Bundy
April 3rd, 2019, 11 a.m.
Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven
Major Characters:
Abubakr Ali: Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Erron Crawford: Feste
William de Meritt: Orsino
Denzel Fields: Ensemble
Allen Gilmore: Malvolio
Tiffany Denise Hobbs: Olivia
Moses Ingram: Viola
Wesley T. Jones: Ensemble
Manu Kumasi: Antonio
Chivas Michael: Sir Toby
Ilia Isorelys Paulino: Maria
Stephon Pettway: Ensemble
Jakeem Dante Powell: Sebastian
Raffel A. Sears: Ensemble, Fabian
Malenky Welsh: Ensemble
Brit West: Ensemble


The play begins with a technology show-off in Lord Orsino’s house, introducing the futuristic setting of the play. It then shifts to Viola’s background tellings. Viola survives from a ship accident and has to pretend to be Cesario, a man, and serve Orsino for living. Cesario is good at “his” work and was trusted by Orsino. Lord Orsino send Cesario to win Olivia’s favor. However, Olivia begins to love Cesario in their conversations. But Viola, or Cesario, instead, loves Orsino. In the meanwhile Malvolio, a servant of Olivia, loves Olivia. To trick and to revenge on him, the fool Feste, Sir Toby, Andrew, and Maria forges a love letter. Malvolio goes crazy and acts like a fool in front of Olivia. He is seen mad and sent for medication. At the same time, Sebastian, Viola’s brother, was survived from the accident as well, saved by Antonio, a pirate. Sebastian enters the palace and love Olivia. In a series of following occasions, Sebastian and Viola are misrecognized as each other. In the end, Sebastian and Olivia are married, and Viola and Orsino fall in love.


This play is a future adaptation of Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. The world of the play is one of the biggest selling points of the adaptation. Though the time being ambiguous, the costumes, set pieces, and lighting suggest a futuristic glimpse. The streamline all-body suits are decorated with embroideries, describing a quality aristocratic life. Marvelous one-piece wooden ceiling and screen are built in wave shapes, injecting vividness from the nature to the fine mechanical sophistication. This breed of nature and technology must have connections with the movie “Black Panther.” However, what makes a relative simple stage setting come alive is the carefully crafted lightings. The amazingly beautiful silhouettes yielded rounds of aws, but the 3-D projection is what I want to talk about. Working with films of transparent projection screens, colors and faces and images danced on stage, in the air. The effect was rarely used, two or three times perhaps, but its profound resistance in the audience’s heads after-show is itself mindblowing.

Despite the director chose a never-recorded time to deliver Twelfth Night, he sticks with the original comedic atmosphere. Jokes are delivered as expected mostly by actors’ bodies.

I think Abubakr Ali illustrates the role Sir Andrew well. His confidently tweaky (bitchy) way of moving his body and way of speaking perhaps annotate a modern or future version of victorian extravagant. Ali’s personal interpretation of the character also imprint shines of Sir Andrew in our head. The never-leaving image of the confident thumb-ups was definitely a laugh trigger. But it also pinpoints Andrew’s character of defending his dignity in front of his friends by hiding his cowardness. Sir Andrew did makes tons of dirty jokes, and I am not ashamed of enjoying them. But perhaps it is the greatness of Ali’s works, his unique interpretations and wonderful actings, that make the character so funny and outstanding.

I think this adaptation of Twelfth Night is interesting. Shallow in parts, but also thoughtful at points. The analysis of the character Feste, the fool, was amazing. The fool was not much doing a fool’s job in this adaptation, instead, he was like a serious and dark story teller. He takes every important part of the stories and connections in gaining profit. Seeing him tricking Malvolio was not entertaining as the others tricking him, but it was somewhat frightening. It was to say that “treat the fool seriously.” I think the show tells us that explicitly.

I admit the play is for killing time, and thus the play was a little shallow. But the character Olivia was a little unsatisfying for me to watch. She was first appeared as a delicate noble character. However, her movements are not careful enough and her thoughts shift too quickly. I saw no subtle information delivered as it should and her love to Cesario was abrupt. It hindered my experience in rationalizing the plot and like the character.

Amazing show in technology and jokes. But I wonder should the future style of it be implicated in a more thoughtful angle?

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