Header imageActor: Charlotte Wright. Photo: Tim Matheson

On the Subject

TWELFTH NIGHT

Presented by the
Department of Theatre & Film
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Rd.
UBC MAP: http://bit.ly/94dLm6
University of British Columbia
Vancouver CANADA

CURTAIN: 7:30 p.m.

TICKETS: Reg. 24.50/Senior $16.50/Student $11.50/Youth $9/Groups $2 off ~ all charges included/Student Rush $7/UBC Alumni $10

$7 Preview: Sept. 24
Talkback: Oct. 1

 

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— THEATRE SERIES | Romantic Comedy

This romantic comedy of epic proportions is often referred to as Shakespeare’s very finest comedy. Orsino loves Olivia. Olivia doesn’t love him. She loves Cesario who’s actually Viola in disguise. And then there’s Malvolia… where will her giddy infatuation lead her?

Outrageous high-jinx ensue as pangs of unrequited love afflict these unforgettable characters. The hilarity of the play’s gender bending and sexual confusions is heightened by setting it in modern day New Orleans during Mardi-Gras.

       

View Press Release »

"Theatre UBC’s adaptation of Twelfth Night is entertaining from beginning to end and offers something for all audience members. Whether you go to see some of UBC’s finest thespians give outstanding performances, or to marvel at the play’s breath-taking set and jazzy original music, your trip to the Frederic Wood Theatre will not be one you’ll soon regret."

Review by Ian Schultz, UBCevents

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Message from the Head, Robert Gardiner

Costume design by Amelia Ross

Costume design by Shelby Page

 

Welcome to the Theatre at UBC production of Twelfth Night, the inaugural show of our 2014 / 2015 UBC Theatre and Opera season. The combined Opera and Theatre season is unique among Canadian University programs, and an unparalleled training environment for student performers, directors, designers, and technicians, as well as a marvelous expansion of the opportunities to enjoy great live events on the UBC Vancouver campus.

I’m honoured to announce the establishment of the Christopher Gaze Award in Theatre

The theatre and opera productions on the UBC campus are an essential part of the learning opportunities for students, and another very significant aspect of our programs are opportunities for exposure to professional practice in the regional community. In this regard I’m honoured to announce the establishment of the Christopher Gaze Award in Theatre. Dr. Christopher Gaze, DLitt ‘08, is best known as founder and Artistic Director of Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, and is also recognized for his deep commitment to youth outreach and education. Created through the leadership of Christopher and Jennifer Gaze, Professor Emeritus Stan Hamilton and many other generous donors, the Christopher Gaze Award will enable selected advanced students to undertake internship positions with professional theatres as part of their training program. Proceeds from the opening night performance of this production of Twelfth Night will be donated to the Christopher Gaze Award fund, in honour of his distinguished cultural leadership in Vancouver and his contributions to performing arts training.

I hope you enjoy the show - and that you’ll also see “The Bartered Bride” in November in the Old Auditorium, directed by Nancy Hermiston, which promises to be a charming production of this operatic classic.

— Robert Gardiner
Professor & Acting Head
Department of Theatre and Film

 

“…one of the most engaging romances ever written.”
 – New York Times 

Twelfth Night features original music performed live and stars BFA acting ensemble students Ghazal Azarbad, Nathan Cottell, Thomas Elms, Catherine Fergusson, Helena Fisher-Welsh, Matt Kennedy, Allyce Kranabetter, Jenna Mairs, Demi Pedersen, Javier Sotres, Cassandra Szabo, Zach Wolfman and Charlotte Wright. The creative team includes Richard Link (original compositions), Mike Kovac (Fight Choreography) along with BFA Design & Production students Rebecca Burks (Set), Andrew Pye (Lighting), Shelby Page (Costumes) and Lauren Stewart (Sound) with Kiara Lawson (SM).

TWELFTH NIGHT By William Shakespere, Directed by Stephen Heatley | Sept. 25 – Oct. 11| Frederic Wood Theatre, 6354 Crescent Rd., UBC MAP: http://bit.ly/1e03V89 CURTAIN: 7:30 pm| TICKETS: Reg. $24.50/Senior $16.50/Student $11.50/Youth $9/Groups $2 off ~ all charges included | $7 Preview: Wed. Sept. 24 | Talk Back: Wed. Oct. 1, Student Rush $7, UBC Alumni $10| BOX OFFICE: 604.822.2678 or box.office@ubc.ca Book Online: http://ubctheatre.universitytickets.com | MORE: www.theatrefilm.ubc.ca

Media Contact: Deb Pickman E: deb.pickman@ubc.ca Ph: 604.319.7656

 

About the Playwright,

http://www.babelmatrix.org/works/hu/Jarry,_Alfred
-- The Chandos portrait of William Shakespeare, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. National Portrait Gallery, London

 

By most estimations, William Shakespeare remains the most famous and frequently performed dramatist in Western theatre history. Born to father John and mother Mary (nee Arden) in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptized on April 26th, 1564, Shakespeare would have enjoyed a relatively comfortable childhood. His father was a glover and leather worker who held several different municipal offices over the course of his lifetime and his mother’s family were local gentry.

it is not surprising that The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night feature mixedgender twins

At the age of eighteen, Shakespeare married twenty-six year old Anne Hathaway and six months later she gave birth to their first child, Susanna. Twins Judith and Hamnet followed shortly afterwards in 1585. Sadly, Hamnet passed away in 1596 at the age of eleven of unknown causes. Owing to this biographical fact it is not surprising that The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night feature mixedgender twins and their plots partly revolve around the lost brother being happily restored to his pining sister in the end. The trope of a relative being lost and presumed dead only to be happily found alive again exists in some form or another in a great number of Shakespeare’s plays. Despite having a wife and children in Stratford, after marriage Shakespeare mostly lived in London in order to pursue his passion for the theatre. Shakespeare was an actor as well as a writer and was a member of The Lord Chamberlain’s Men theatre company by the 1580s. For this company (re-named The King’s Men in 1603 due to their popularity with King James), Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, and during his lifetime also produced a total of 154 sonnets and 2 long narrative poems.

...Continue reading about William Shakespeare in our Production Program.

 

Twelfth Night is about illusion, deception, disguises, and the extraordinary things that love will cause us to do - and to see. 

 

About

Director Stephen Heatley has worked in professional theatre for over 40 years. During his 12-years as Artistic Director of Theatre Network in Edmonton, he directed over 30 world premieres. He also directed outdoor productions of Shakespeare for the Free Will Players from 1991-1995.

Before arriving to join the Theatre faculty at UBC in 1999, he spent five years as Associate Artistic Director of the Citadel Theatre where he ran the Theatre School and directed in each of the theatre’s performance spaces. Stephen is a recent recipient of UBC’s Dorothy Somerset Award for Development in the Performing Arts.

Last season, he directed The Caucasian Chalk Circle for Theatre at UBC, Cocktails at Pam’s for Staircase Theatre in Vancouver, and Hilda’s Yard at the Station Arts Centre in Rosthern, Saskatchewan.

Director's Notes

In my theatrical career, I have been lucky enough, from time-to-time, to get a second chance at directing a great play.  I have directed Twelfth Night once before – 24 years ago.  It was performed in a tent and the setting was prescribed by the Artistic Director. He wanted it to feature a Ukrainian community, as the city we were working in had a large Ukrainian population. He felt that the play must be connected somehow to the orthodox Christmas season, a concept I spent a lot of time trying to wrestle into a production idea.  It was also the first time I had ever tackled Shakespeare as a director and I had fifteen days from first rehearsal to first performance. Needless to say, there were many sizeable challenges to this project. But despite these hurdles, it turned out to be a wonderful wonderful experience. I finally understood something first hand about the enduring theatrical qualities of Shakespeare’s texts and the muscularity of Shakespeare’s language. It was a thrill to see how we could set the play in rural Saskatchewan and the thing stood up beautifully to this crazy idea. It was a great launch into my love of Shakespeare.

...a serendipitous trip to New Orleans has become the inspiration for this iteration of Shakespeare’s play

The phrase in the text that has resonated most with me in tackling the play in 2014 is Sir Toby’s line, “I am sure care’s an enemy to life”. The tension between the desire to party and live life to its fullest by some characters versus the deep grief and mourning being experienced by others spurred me to look for a setting which would embrace these contradictions. It so happened that I was travelling to New Orleans this past April to celebrate the significant birthday of a dear friend of mine. New Orleans is party central. On Easter Sunday, there were no less than three parades that wended their way through the French Quarter. Wedding parties danced from the church to the reception hall accompanied by a live Dixieland band. At the same time, the city’s cemeteries are great tourist attractions and sit very close to the city centre. You can also buy voodoo materials down most streets. So, a serendipitous trip to New Orleans has become the inspiration for this iteration of Shakespeare’s play. Mardi Gras and its use of masks and the sense of “anything goes” – the imperative of the lord of the misrule - also seemed perfect for all the disguises and pranks that are central to Twelfth Night. It so happens, as well, that Mardi Gras is the period that happens between Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday!

One of my favourite things about directing for Theatre at UBC is to experience the bravery, talents, and growth of the student actors, designers and production staff

One of my favourite things about directing for Theatre at UBC is to experience the bravery, talents, and growth of the student actors, designers and production staff.  This one has been amazing for me.  I hope the experience tonight is amazing for you.

Stephen Heatley

Twelfth Night Questions
with Twelfth Night Director Stephen Heatley

1. When did you know you’d commit your life to theatre?

I was an undergraduate and we were asked to create a show to tour high schools as a recruitment tool for the university. Kids told us it had changed their lives. One young woman changed her career path from hair-dressing to theatre because of our show.  It was then that I realized the power of what we did.

2. Why did you set Twelfth Night in New Orleans during Mardi Gras?

Entirely happenstance. I didn’t know how I wanted to approach the play but, as is my wont, I decided to let the universe show me the way. I travelled to New Orleans in April and all around me, I saw Twelfth Night – the tension between fun and grief, the presence of cemeteries and death imagery in the same lens with masks, reveling and partying. Twelfth Night is about disguises and the nature of how we live our lives, so this was the perfect setting for the play.

3. What can audiences look forward to?

It is fun, funny, touching, cruel, and full of the contradictions of humanity. The characters are big and bold and intrinsically human. The setting gives us lots of room for colour and pageantry. Audiences will see the stars of the future; actors, designers, production personnel.

4. What has surprised you about this production?

That the young actors were so magnetically drawn to the characters and how they’ve opened themselves up to this wonderful set of misfits that populate Twelfth Night.

5. Who are your theatrical heroes?

Canadian director, John Hirsch, who raised the bar on our standards in Canadian Theatre. Playwright Michel Tremblay because of his dedication to theatricality and the community of characters he has woven together over the course of his career. I’m a director who loves actors, all of them. They lay it all out on the line and they are the artists who meet the audience and are the theatre’s front line.

6. How does Vancouver theatre compare to centers like Toronto & Montreal.

It stacks up well. My other theatrical lives are on the prairies and I don’t think we give enough credit to work being done in Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon. We are doing great things in Vancouver, particularly because many UBC Theatre artists decide to stay here to practice their story-telling.  

7. You’re a performer, theatre creator and director, which is more satisfying?

Different worlds. It’s wonderfully satisfying to be a party to a play coming together as the outside eye, critic, coach, and surrogate audience. However, I’ve recently created a project with a close friend and working with him in an intimate theatre setting and telling stories “at close range” was one of the most satisfying things I’ve done over the last couple of decades.

8. What would your dream project in theatre look like?

Another chance to do a project as described above. And I want to direct Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.  I have a very exciting idea for that play. I hope to direct and produce Scott Button’s The Hunger Room.  He’s a UBC acting grad and a talented playwright.

9. Those who rarely or never come to theatre – what are they missing?

A shared experience like no other. It is magic. Everyone needs more magic their lives.

10. What can Theatre at UBC can provide audiences that professional productions can’t?

We have huge casts and extravagant sets. Experience top young talent just forming their theatrical ideas, in classic or new plays that are not seen elsewhere - and come to the beautiful UBC campus!  

 


University of British Columbia

 

Department of Theatre & Film
University of British Columbia
Vancouver Campus
6354 Crescent Road
VancouverBC Canada V6T 1Z1

 

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