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Cross – dress to impress: get mixed up in Shakespeare’s cheeky ‘Twelfth Night’ at Chickasaw Civic Theatre

It’s been at least a decade, and likely more than two, since Chickasaw Civic Theatre has staged a Shakespeare play, according to CCT board member Steven Alsip.

That’s just one of the reasons why you should catch CCT’s production of the Bard’s crazy cross-dressing comedy “Twelfth Night,” which opens on Friday, Feb. 27 and plays for two consecutive weekends.

“This is Shakespeare at the height of his comic genius and its very accessible to a modern day audience. I know the play very well and just had a vision to do it” said director Bill Watts. “The characters are just so memorable and the funniness comes not just in the plot, but in the way the characters interact. They’re so delusional. They don’t understand themselves.”

“Twelfth Night” is believed to have been written circa 1601, and the plot is a wacky, tangled web of love affairs, practical jokes and drunken revelry. The action takes place in the ancient West Balkan region of Ilyria, which is proximal to modern-day Croatia.

A shipwreck washes twins Viola and Sebastian ashore at different times and both believe the other died in the disaster.

Viola washes up first and decides she wants to be a servant to Ilyria’s Duke Orsino. To do so, she disguises herself as a young man and takes the name Cesario. Cesario/Violet falls in love with Orsino, who is obsessed with the rich countess Olivia. Olivia is totally disinterested in Orsino, and becomes smitten with Cesario.

When Sebastian eventually appears on the scene, things get even more bizarre.

To add to the play’s chaos, a group of miscreants are playing pranks on Olivia’s prudish tattletale steward Malvolio.

At one point, the merry pranksters convince Malvolio that Olivia is in love with him, and that he should put on garters and yellow stockings because that’s what turns Olivia on.

In truth, Olivia is repelled by those adornments.

Basically, “Twelfth Night” is a big, beautifully muddled romantic mess, and unlike most of Shakespeare’s comedies, all the dangling threads don’t get neatly tied at the end.

“It doesn’t really reconcile,” Watts said. “Not everyone marries.” Watts said he appreciates the play’s lack of a perfect conclusion.

“The play isn’t all sugar and roses, that’s what I like about it,” he said. “It’s got sweetness and a kind of melancholy…it touches on the edge of tragedy at times.”

Watts, who spent time studying theatre in England during the 1970s, is intimately acquainted with the play. It was the focus of his English literature master’s thesis and he’s directed as well as acted in the play several times.

His production incorporates elements of an authentic Shakespearean theatre experience.

“When you see my show you’ll notice that there’s no curtain. I’m doing that intentionally, because at (London’s) Globe Theatre (where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed during his lifetime) you didn’t have a curtain and you had entrances from the back,” he said. “Most of my exits and entrances are coming from the back because a lot of lines are written for those kinds of entrances and exits.”

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Gorgeous period costumes and live Renaissance music from the Phoenix Quartet, will add even more authenticity to the proceedings.

One thing Watts is not doing is having men play all the roles, which was the custom in Shakespeare’s time.

“Twelfth Night’s” cross-dressing element would have been even more curious back then when you consider that Viola would have been played by a young man playing a woman disguised as a man.

This gender-bending riot of a play may seem way to confusing to follow. But it’s actually a piece of cake for the audience.

“Twelfth Night” is highly relatable and updatable; so much so that it was the basis for the 2006 movie “She’s The Man,” which transferred the action to a modern-day boarding school.

In “She’s The Man,” Amanda Bynes plays Viola and Channing Tatum plays the Orsino character, renamed “Duke” for the update.

Emily Ericson, who plays Viola in the CCT production, was a “She’s The Man” fan long before she had any clue that she’d one day star in the masterpiece that inspired it.

“It was one of my favorite movies from when I was younger so that helps. It’s a great movie,” she said. “It was just so funny and so relatable in many ways. I had no idea it was based on a Shakespeare play. It was just one of those chick flicks you love when you’re younger.”

Ericson, 17, is taking on quite a challenge for an actress her age.

Although “Twelfth Night” is an ensemble piece, the plot hinges on the witty, winsome Viola. According to Ericson and Watts, she’s the character that causes her cohorts to drop their over-the-top posturing and get real.

Watts said its wonderful to watch Ericson volley among the characters.

“She’s just this diminutive little person that’s thrown about by all these people-and everyone’s bigger and taller than she is,” he said. “She registers fear so well on stage. Its just really kind of cute the way she looks up there. She’s got wonderful natural reactions to things.”

The process of becoming Viola has been quite an education for Ericson.

“I’m just trying to fit in with the rest of the cast really,” Ericson said. “Everybody else is so experienced and so amazing. It’s a bit intimidating.”

Ericson’s “intimidators” include as Joe Fuselli as Orsino, Lesley Roberts as Olivia, Michael Green as prankster Sir Toby Belch and John Campbell as Malvolio.

According to Ericson, there’s one simple reason to get mixed up in the multi-layered madness.

“‘Twelfth Night’s’ great and everyone should come see it,” she said.