By Mattie Cieplak, Staff Writer

Xavier Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night had audiences rolling with laughter.

Twelfth Night is perhaps most recognized today as the plot of She’s The Man, but the Shakespeare play weaves a more complicated tale. Between the eight different love stories, it can be difficult to follow what is happening onstage, especially because of the prose. 

In Xavier Theatre’s production, director Jeremy Dubin further complicated this by adding in dialects. This might sound like it could be a recipe for disaster, but the cast members utilized strong physicality and inflection to tell a delightful and understandable story. 

Another unique aspect of the performance was the set. Xavier Theatre has historically utilized their stage space in various ways. Twelfth Night was not an exception to this experimentation. The 90-person house was seated on stage, with the front row only inches away from the start of the performing space. 

This was an ideal setup for a Shakespeare production as his writing often utilizes a technique called an aside in which performers will directly address the audience. Having such easy access to audience members created more energized and entertaining interactions, contributing to the comedic success of the production. 

Technically, the production was stunning. The sound design is what truly merged this classic with contemporary times. Featuring songs like “bad idea, right?” by Olivia Rodrigo and “Dance the Night Away” by Dua Lipa, it was clear that there was an intentional choice to stay in the pop culture realm.

After the tremendous performance on Nov. 17, there was a talkback in collaboration with LGBTQ+ Alliance to discuss relevant themes from the show, specifically surrounding gender and sexuality. 

The talkback was facilitated by Dr. Stephen Yandell, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and an English professor. Panelists featured Dr. Niamh O’Leary, a Shakespeare scholar from the English department; Maria Merrill, Assistant Director at the Center for Diversity and Inclusion; Susan Pelle, the Campus Advocacy Coordinator for Counseling Services; Kaity Rowe, the TriHealth Student Wellbeing Services Supervisor; Megan Shuey, treasurer of the LGBTQ+ Alliance and Regan Utrup, who played Viola in the production.

This talkback is part of Xavier Theatre’s effort to collaborate with groups on campus to facilitate relevant discussions for five of their six past productions. 

“I’m delighted that the Theatre program is interested in fostering conversation about the productions and how they intersect with our lived experiences. It’s such a meaningful way to recognize performance as experiential learning,” O’Leary said about the talkback program.