Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night directed by Andrew Hamel-Cooke
Tuesday 27 September to Saturday 1st October at 7.45
Tickets: adults £14, children/students £10, £12 for all adults on 27th
Social disorder, role reversal and cross-dressing are the main elements in this sublime comedy.
Come to Illyria with us and enjoy a fun filled romantic comedy with one of William Shakespeare’s greatest plays that has stood the test of time. There are all the elements of confusion, shipwreck, disguise, and passion, with much humour. This very amusing play is all too often taken too seriously. Shakespeare was writing for the ordinary person in the street and they loved a good bawdy show. At the same time, we can learn much from his play about the frailties of human nature as well as the ‘tricks’ we play upon ourselves.
In Twelfth Night we have both a delightful and raucous frolic with improbable coincidences, making it almost farce, and love at first sight. There are love triangles with self-love, secret love and falling in love with love, truly the human condition.
The Bard writes ‘If music be the food of love ….’ Today we live in a time of music and love. None was more so than the 1960s from where we take our incidental music. They sang then ‘All you need is love’, we find that here in Twelfth Night he leads us through an interesting tale of social disorder, role reversal and cross dressing; then he allows ..‘time, thou must untangle this …’ so all will be well in our comedic play. This production is performed by a diverse and talented cast whose grasp of the Bard’s language will make the work accessible for all audience members both young and old.
This exciting production comes from Director, Andrew Hamel-Cooke…
Andrew has most recently directed The Pajama Game (musical), Cinderella (pantomime), Sisterly Feelings (play) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oct ‘14) which drew its inspiration from Seventies Glam Rock music and dance – a very interesting and entertaining take on the traditional Shakespeare, you can bet that Andrew will bring the same level of energy and innovation to Twelfth Night!
Andrew has been in theatre from a very early age, appearing in all genres from Shakespeare to Pantomime. He has performed and directed with Nomads for about twelve years. Originally trained at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts he worked as a professional dancer, singer and actor in the UK and abroad. Andrew has also been a drama teacher in secondary education.