Production of sheakespeare's Twelfth night
... mention of a song to be played, the role of Feste, the fool, performed a popular older song such as “Cecilia,” as well as many others. In fact throughout the reading of the play I found Feste’s role to not play as much importance as it did during the actual production. The role of Feste was a stand out through out the performance. As the fool, Feste had great lines using witty charm, as well as a lot of sexual innuendos. This is where I aw a greater difference. In the play written by William Shakespeare there are a great many sexual innuendo’s, but seeing it live made it stand out much more. The fool’s lines were changed more then any of the other characters, but there was a reason. If role of Feste would have been played by the book then the humor would not have been understood as much by non-Shakespeare readers. It might have sounded like a rambling foreign language, that not all may have been able to understand. What I did find to be very interesting was the amount gender roles played in this performance. During Shakespearian times all roles were played by males, female and male roles alike. In this play the females did play the female roles, but one also played a males role. The role of the fool, Feste, was indeed played by a female. Another thing I found to be interesting was the role of Viola/Cesario. The fact that Shakespeare once again (As You Like It) had a female dress up as a male for the sake of identity. If we had seen this play performed during Elizabethan times, the actor who played Viola would have been dressed as a girl, and when it came time to play Cesario, you would have seen his identity. The same way that Rosalind’s character would have been played during As You Like It. Seeing this performance really brought this play to life. Reading a William Shakespeare play is not the same as seeing one performed. It turns an old language into a performance you connect with. Hearing about Malvolio’s yellow cross-gartered stockings is no comparison to seeing just how silly it looked on stage. The costume of ...