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Gender Roles In Twelfth Night

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In Fullerton College’s production of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, director Tim Espinosa beautifully executed Shakespeare’s skillfully written portrayal of mistaken identity through scenery, costumes, and music. The simple, yet intriguing set with constantly moving pieces, and multiple levels kept the audiences eyes moving around the stage. The costumes in this production were colorful and elegant. The music played by Feste was beautifully placed throughout the play. Twelfth Night is a light and cheerful comedy where Viola is in love with Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, who is in love with Viola’s male disguise Cesario. This gender-bending triangle is complicated by the fact the Olivia and Orsino don’t know that Viola is really a woman. …show more content…

She is afraid to live alone in the world as a woman. So, dressed as a man Viola, now Cesario, makes her way to the Duke or Illyria, Orsenio, played by Antionio Gonzalez-Luna to try and find work as a messenger. The problem that arises with this is that Orsenio is in love with Olivia, played by Tatiana Alvarez. When Viola tries to woo Olivia for the duke, Olivia ends up falling for Viola.
The scenery through out the production was eye catching. Set designer Kevin Clowes perfectly filled the space, and created textures and colors relevant to the time period and theme of the play. There were stairs to balconies and higher levels. Even a trampoline nestled into the front of the stage. The depth through out the set kept things interesting, but gave the speaking performers the space and attention that they deserved. The scenery coming and going assisted the audience to come and go from different places such as Orsenio’s palace, or Olivia’s

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