TWELFTH NIGHT (HEADS OR TAILS) Comes to New Theatre

Indie theatre outfit Virginia Plain will open their 2021 season with a fresh take on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night playing at the New Theatre in January.

Viola is shipwrecked in a strange land and, believing her brother to be dead, she dresses as a boy and goes to work for the lovesick Orsino. Orsino sends her to woo Olivia, setting into motion a whirlwind of mistaken identity, unrequited love and elaborate pranks. In Illyria music is the food of love, and anything is possible.

In fact, in this production almost anything is possible, with twelve actors each learning two roles and tossing a coin at the start of the performance to determine their parts. With twelve actors there are 64 casting combinations, so no two nights will ever be the same. "It's still Twelfth Night, with all its lovers, shipwrecks, fools, puritans and rings," says director Victor Kalka, "but it's also an experiment that riffs on the play's themes of sexuality, identity, doubling and fate."

"The pure possibilities that come with the flip of a coin really brings home what we missed from live theatre in 2020. Each performance will be completely unique," says Caitlin Williams, who plays both Viola and Sebastian.

Kalka: "Twelfth Night feels like the perfect play to present as we start to process the events of 2020: it's about a group of characters working through loss and isolation. For a while they lose all sense of perspective and madness and mayhem bubbles to the surface, but in the end they find their way through."

Twelfth Night (heads or tails) will play from the 6th - 23rd January at the New Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Cast: Eleni Cassimatis, Ben Chapple, Lucinda Howes, Cameron Hutt, Sarah Greenwood, Rowena McNicol, Lucy Ross, Michael Smith, Leonard Sun, Patrick Sunderland, Caitlin Williams, Harry Winsome

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed and Designed by Victor Kalka
Assistant Director Isabella Milkovitsch
Costume Designer Bronte Barnicoat
Sound Designer Ryan Devlin
Composer Lachlan Massey
Stage Manager Christopher Starnawski
Production Manager Madeleine Picard

Performances run 6th - 23rd January 2021.

Bookings: www.newtheatre.org.au or 9519 3403.

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