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University Daily Kansan Thursday, April 26, 1962
Theater Review
Twelfth Night' Attracts Nearly 900 Persons
By Tom Winston
The University Theatre began the last show of the semester last night with a production of William Shakespeare's romantic comedy, "Twelfth Night, or What You Will."
Though 350 years have passed since it was written, "Twelfth Night" stands as one of the greatest comedy plays ever written. It has both a comic and a melancholy side, and its powers to charm are undimmed today. It is amazing how easy it is to follow its text. Some 960 people attended.
The set for this production immediately arrests one's attention. Director Gordon Beck and designer Glenn Bickle have extended the stage apron 15 feet farther into the audience and have constructed a facade covering the entire procenium to resemble Shakespeare's Globe playhouse.
Also, Caroline Kriesel's costumes are alive with color. Keith Jochim's makeup is especially effective with Sir Toby and the clowns Feste and Fabian.
Phil Harris does outstanding work as the unceuth Sir Toby. He is raucous but lovable. And his shadow, the vacant-headed Sir Andrew Aguecheek, played by Mike Jackson, Prairie Village senior, is every inch a fool. Jackson is very funny, especially in the duel with Viola-Cesario.
The extra nearness of the actors further makes the play irresistible. Performances by Phil Harris, Lawrence graduate student, as Sir Toby Belch; Keith Jochim, Birmingham; Mich., junior, as the pompous Malvolio; Dan Kocher, Topea junior, as Feste the clown, among others, and the result is something not to miss.
Dan Kocher is good as Feste. It is to the fool that Shakespeare gives his philosophical lines. Kocher's acrobatic movement is very agile.
And at the end of the play, when Feste is left alone and sings "When That I Was a Little Tiny Boy," he creates a beautiful, melancholy mood. He is joined in this latter number by the four "Lobby Singers" who sing Elizabethan music at intermission.
Keith Jochim cuts a stuffy caper as Malvolio, an incorrigible, pious windbag. His regal black costume makes him seem almost bigger than life. He is especially funny when he allows himself to be made a fool of by a supposed love letter from Sir Toby's niece, Olivia.
Maria, Olivia's lady in waiting, and Sir Toby and company planted the note to get even with Malvolio for insulting Feste by calling him barren. In that letter are Shakespeare's famous lines, "Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."
However, the women were less satisfactory. Only Marilyn Miller, Olathe junior, who plays the mischievous Maria, is an even character.
With Peggy Connors, who plays the double character role of Viola-Cesario, the lack was depth. The plot turns on this double figure of Viola-Cesario.
Miss Connors, Wichita sophomore, plays the part of Viola-Cesario with ease. We might say that as Cesario she is very good, but as Viola she is not at all convincing. When we first meet her she talks of "dead" Sebastian. She might as well talk of the weather.
Viola has an identical twin brother whom she thinks has died in a shipwreck. She loves the Duke Orsino, so she dons men's clothing and becomes his page so she may get to know the royal gentleman. The duke sends Cesario to ooil Vioia, with whom he fancies he is in love. But Olivia falls in love with Cesario. When Sebastian does not appear dead, obvious complications arise.
She is only slightly better at the end of the play, when she sees Sebastian again. That recognition scene is the climax of the play, and it was not at all what it might have been. She ends up by marrying the
duke, whom as Cesario she must love at a distance.
Diana Abbruzzino, Huntington, W. Va., graduate student, plays Olivia. She has the dramatic qualities for the pensive Olivia, but her comic scene with Malvolio, in which the man proposes passionate love to her, is carried more by Jochim than by her. And her accent is quite American, whereas the other actors temper theirs to English. Her scenes with Sebastian are good.
Tom Woodard, Des Moines, Iowa,
junior, is fine as Sebastian. His encour-
ter with Sir Andrew is excellent.
Jim Hawes, Lawrence graduate
student, as Antonio, the sea
captain who saved Sebastian from
drowning, brings much depth to a
small part.
Paul Ackerman, Colby junior, who
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plays the duke, is statuesque and brooding. These qualities fit Orsino well, since he is really in love with love itself, and not Olivia. "If music be the food of love, play on," he tells his musicians. (The musicians play real ancient instruments.)
Rick Friesen, Lawrence freshman, also makes much of the small role of Fabian, Feste's apprentice clown.
"Twelfth Night" will play tonight through Saturday night.
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