'Twelfth Night' filled with stars

Shakespearean comedy has never struck me as particularly funny. Maybe I just have an uncultured sense of humor, but to me, it's so exhausting keeping track of all the men disguised as women who fall in love with other women (and vice versa) that it's difficult to concentrate on anything else.

Thus, part of me was dreading Princeton Shakespeare Company's production of "Twelfth Night"; I pictured an evening full of absurd situations with people running in and out of doors at exactly the wrong time, over and over (and over) again, until they finally all manage to get together in the end, realize the mistakes they'd made throughout the show, two people would kiss, and we'd leave. The end.

But, thankfully, this production has erased all my misconceptions about Shakespearean comedy. Director Laura Fletcher '10's production is relevant and even, dare I say it, funny. Unlike the frantic urgency of most Shakespearean productions I've seen, Fletcher's is slower, letting the characters deliberate about their desires and their schemes for how to achieve them. The only set consists of three ladders, which the actors shift around continuously throughout the play. Whenever one of the characters schemes or broods, he or she climbs on top of a ladder, high above everyone else wallowing on Earth. Each actor brings a certain mischievous vivacity to the play, showing the audience that these characters are out to pursue their own interests by any means possible. And for the most part, they get away with it.

Fletcher's greatest asset is her cast, especially the minor characters. Jackie Bello '09 plays the scheming, rowdy, drunk Sir Toby Belch, with the swagger of a cowboy and the inhibitions of a Jewish grandma looking for her son-in-law. Interestingly, Bello never climbs onto a ladder, which seems like Fletcher's attempt to show that Belch is perfectly capable of making his schemes down here on Earth and putting them immediately into action. Duke Orsino (excellently played by Brandon Lowden '09) falls in love with Olivia, played by Liz Dengel '10, who falls in love with his messenger, Cesario (Katie Seaver '10). Unfortunately for her Olivia, Cesario is actually Viola, a woman who washed onto the shore and has since fallen in love with her master, Orsino. There is, of course, a twist involving a lost twin brother, Sebastian (PJ Miller '10) and his assistant, Antonio (Stephen Lamb '11). Carolyn Edelstein '10 does a wonderful job as Feste the Fool, running in and out of scenes and deflating the proud characters with her wit.

My favorite character was no doubt Malvolio (Lovell Holder '09), the preening and contemptuous steward to Olivia who becomes the butt of Sir Toby's practical joke when he finds a counterfeited love letter, supposedly from Olivia. Filled with ridiculous fancies about his love (and especially the side benefits), he quickly becomes the object of ridicule, eventually landing in jail for madness.

At the end of the play, as is often the case in Shakespeare, the fool, one of the few voices of reason in the play, climbs on top of a ladder and sings a mournful tune. The lights darken, and our final feeling is not one of lighthearted comedy, but of tragedy. There is a happy ending to "Twelfth Night" for the main characters to be sure, but this happiness, we're reminded, comes at a price.