Twelfth Night

In one sentence: a delightful comedy about the fluidity of love and identity and the power of truth

How did it come about?

This remains my favourite Shakespearean comedy. We did this play in Hares and Hyenas queer bookshop which sadly closed its doors recently. It was the perfect place - it had stairs that sat above a counter, perfect for those scenes where running commentary was needed as action unfolded. It had lush wallpaper that suggested opulence for the domains of the lovesick royals. In short, it provided a great place for the play as I was able to stage all the different scenes in the different parts of the bookshop. Since we did this with literally no money, there was no concern for the lack of a set - the venue had everything I foresaw needing. We had a little band led by Chris Beasley who also composed original music for the songs of the play. The few props we had were mostly repurposed musical instruments. These small touches enabled the metaphor of music to be present in the realisation and interpretation. I have really fond memories of what we were able to achieve in realising this production. Being my first directorial project since having trained as an actor, it was more or less and experiment to see if I could possibly be a director. I decided that I could and would continue!

Show info

Performed at Hares and Hyenas Bookstore, December 2013

Directed by: Jayde Kirchert
Original music by: Chris Beasley
Costumes by: Marc McIntyre

Cast: Alana Tranter, Hannah Fredericksen, Isabelle Reynaud, Nelson Gardner, Evan Lever, Andrew Doyle, Michael Nikou, Gareth Prosser, Simon Alderman

See more via the Citizen Theatre website.

Image credit Lucas Heil