Twelfth Night: Act 4, Scene 1

OK. Back to Twelfth Night. Are you ready for this?

THE STORY SO FAR: ...oh gosh, do I really have to do this? OK, fine... Viola, disguised as Cesario, with whom the lady Olivia is infatuated, is challenged to a duel by Sir Andrew, who has been egged on to do so by Sir Toby, who is a jerk. However, the duel is never fought because Antonio, the rugged seaman who is besotted with Viola's missing twin brother, Sebastian, mistakes Cesario for Sebastian and intervenes. He's then arrested and Viola goes back to Orsino's court. Unbeknownst to anyone, Sebastian is happily wandering around Elyria, totally ignorant of all these goings-on.

GOT IT? I hope so, because I'm not repeating it. 

"Are all the people mad here?" is probably one of my favorite underrated comedic lines from this play. It pretty much sums up what a lot of the audience is thinking at this point as well.

I'm not sure how I feel about Sebastian. Surely a true gentleman would have said something like "I'll go with you, but you may or may not be mistaking me for somebody else and I've never seen you before" before accepting a strange woman's clearly romantic invitation. 

But then, all the people are mad here. 

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Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 4 (part 5)

We've finally made it to the last part of this gargantuan, never-ending scene! Phew!

Having received a hint that her brother Sebastian is alive, Viola now instantly runs after Antonio to get the full story from him!

Ha ha ha, no, I'm just kidding. She goes back to Orsino and everything remains hopelessly confused for the time being, ha ha ha.

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Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 4 (part 4)

OK, so just to sum up... in this mega-scene from Twelfth Night the following things have happened so far:

  1. Malvolio turned up dressed in yellow stockings and made kissy faces at Olivia, who assumed he had gone mad.

  2. Olivia placed Malvolio in the care of Sir Toby and his cronies, who arranged for him to be locked in a dark room.

  3. Sir Andrew wrote a letter challenging Viola/Cesario to a duel, egged on by Sir Toby and Fabian.

  4. Viola/Cesario repelled another onslaught of affection from Olivia and attempted to leave the premises, but was stopped by Sir Toby.

Got all that? OK, let's continue...

The sword fight between Viola and Sir Andrew is often made into an extended comedic set-piece, as neither of them (a) wants to fight, nor (b) are very good at fighting. 

Tune in again on Thursday, when we finally wrap this behemoth of a scene up!

Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5, part 1 | 1.5, part 2 | 1.5, part 3|2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3, part 1 | 2.3, part 2 | 2.4, part 1 | 2.4, part 2 | 2.5, part 1 | 2.5, part 2 | 3.1, part 1 | 3.1, part 2 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4, part 1 | 3.4, part 2 | 3.4, part 3 | 3.4, part 4

Hamleton: Wait For It

OK, so I'm over a year late to get on the Hamilton bandwagon. I've been geeking out about it from afar but only recently made the time to actually sit down and listen properly to the whole thing. 

It's hardly revolutionary (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) to make a connection between Hamilton and Hamlet. Hamilton's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, got the ball rolling with this recorded encounter:

Well, I've never met a musical number that I haven't wanted to at least try to parody, so I thought I'd take a song from Hamilton and rework it a bit... into Hamleton. It was not easy, as Miranda's lyrics are very dense and intricate, and I'm not entirely sure I've succeeded, but here it is anyways. Many thanks to Dan Beaulieu of the Seven Stages Shakespeare Company and No Holds Bard Podcast for acting as Lyrical Dramaturge on this effort. 

(Here's the song in question, if you've somehow managed not to listen to Hamilton yet.)

Write here...

COMING SOON* TO A WEBCOMIC NEAR YOU: Cordelia... Goneril... and Regan... the Le-ar Sisters!

*may or may not be coming soon

If you like Shakespeare/musical theatre mash-ups, be sure to check out The Sound of Hamlet and Into the (Shakespearean) Woods. 

Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 4 (part 3)

*sings* This is the scene that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends....

Hey, people who have played Sir Toby... leave me a note explaining what Sir Toby's motivation is for messing with people, because from where I'm sitting it just looks like Sir Toby is a jerk. 

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Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 4 (part 2)

Let's keep plugging away at The Scene That Never Ends! When we last left our heroes, Malvolio was busy making a fool of himself in front of Olivia...

OK, he might be lurking in the background like some sort of third wheel, but Fabian is my Most Valuable Player in this scene. First of all, he's got the great meta-theatrical line: "If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbably fiction." It's basically a giant, knowing wink to the audience that screams "SEE WHAT I DID THERE?"

He also has one of my all-time favorite bad puns: "Is't so saucy?" This never gets as big a laugh in performance as I want it to get. I love an unapologetic bad pun, and Fabian is the master here.

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Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 4 (part 1)

OK, so, Act 3 Scene 4 of Twelfth Night  is a monster. It just keeps going on and on and on and all the plots get tangled up in it. So it's going to take me a while to get through it. Bear with me, and let's start with seeing how Malvolio's ill-advised wooing of Olivia goes...

CHECK OUT THAT GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR ON MALVOLIO'S STOCKINGS. IS THAT ART OR WHAT?

....don't answer that. 

Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5, part 1 | 1.5, part 2 | 1.5, part 3|2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3, part 1 | 2.3, part 2 | 2.4, part 1 | 2.4, part 2 | 2.5, part 1 | 2.5, part 2 | 3.1, part 1 | 3.1, part 2 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4, part 1

Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 3

OK, we've spent a lot of time with Viola/Cesario, so let's take a quick moment to check in with her totally-not-drowned identical twin brother, who is roaming around. 

YOU'D BETTER TELL HIM AGAIN, ANTONIO. I DON'T THINK HE HEARD YOU.

Seriously, Sebastian is totally leading Antonio on. Poor old Antonio. 

Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5, part 1 | 1.5, part 2 | 1.5, part 3|2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3, part 1 | 2.3, part 2 | 2.4, part 1 | 2.4, part 2 | 2.5, part 1 | 2.5, part 2 | 3.1, part 1 | 3.1, part 2 | 3.2 | 3.3