UW School of Drama to Present TWELFTH NIGHT with 1920s Twist

Leah Adcock-Starr, a third-year student in the Professional Director Training Program (PDTP) at the University of Washington School of Drama, will direct William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will as her thesis production for the School of Drama.

Beloved for its rebellious portrayal of gender ambiguity, Twelfth Night is a comedy about a cross-dressing shipwreck survivor who finds herself at the center of a not-so-ordinary love triangle. Adcock-Starr is taking this classic tale of mistaken identities and weaving it into the jazz-infused world of 1920's New Orleans, complete with live original jazz music performed on stage.

"The world of Shakespeare's Illyria and the world of 1920's New Orleans connect in a myriad of ways," says Adcock-Starr. "The elegance and rhythm and muscularity of Shakespeare's text is met in the fashion and music of the 1920s. The anarchic and raucous Elizabethan festival of Twelfth Night itself is directly and historically connected to the beginning of Carnival season, which now culminates in the festival of Mardi Gras-all which allow the madness and magic of Shakespeare's sexy, sad, and silly romp of a play come powerfully to life on our stage."

Twelfth Night, or What You Will previews January 28 & 29 and runs January 30 - February 8. Performances are Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. Tickets range from $10-20 and are available online or over the phone through the ArtsUW Ticket Office, 206-543-4880 / drama.uw.edu/performances. The ArtsUW Ticket Office is located at 1313 NE 41st Street, open Monday-Friday, 11 am-6 pm.

Performances are in the Meany Studio Theatre at Meany Hall on the UW campus.

Photo: Mike Hipple