Twelfth Night Audition Information

WHAT: Twelfth Night Auditions

WHEN: Thursday, September 13th beginning at 7:00 P.M. (new students and those who have never auditioned for a production at Whittier College)

AND

Friday, September 14th beginning at 7 P.M. in the Studio Theatre (returning students).

WHERE: The Studio Theatre in the Shannon Center for Performing Arts

WHAT TO DO: Sign-up for a timeslot (please sign-up for the earliest slots first). New students and those who have never auditioned for a play at Whittier College should come ready to move and play – YOU DO NOT NEED TO PREPARE/MEMORIZE ANY MATERIAL. Returning students, please prepare a Shakespearean sonnet (14 lines). The material should be memorized and special attention should be paid to the language (know what you are saying, please).

CALLBACK AUDITIONS: Saturday, September 15th beginning at 10:30 A.M. in the Studio Theatre.

Callbacks will consist of cold readings from the play. It is expected you will have read Twelfth Night by the time of callbacks. If you have any questions regarding the audition process, please ask.

If for any reason you cannot attend these auditions, please let me know immediately to schedule an alternative timeslot.

Gil Gonzalez, MFA
Assistant Professor of Theatre & Communication Arts
Whittier College
ggonzalez@whittier.edu
562-907-4833

About the Play

Illyria, the setting of Twelfth Night, is important to the play's romantic atmosphere. It is an ancient region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea covering parts of modern Croatia, Montenegro and Albania. Illyria is mentioned in one of the source plays for Twelfth Night, Plautus's Menęchmi, as a place where, as in Twelfth Night, a twin went looking for his brother. Shakespeare himself mentioned it previously, in Henry VI, Part II, noting its reputation for pirates.

Like so many of Shakespeare's comedies, this one centres on mistaken identity. The leading character, Viola, is shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria during the opening scenes. She loses contact with her twin brother, Sebastian, whom she believes dead. Dressed as a man and masquerading as a young page under the name Cesario, she enters the service of Duke Orsino. Orsino is in love with the bereaved Lady Olivia, whose brother has recently died, and decides to use "Cesario" as an intermediary. Olivia, believing Viola to be a man, falls in love with this handsome and eloquent messenger. Viola, in turn, has fallen in love with the Duke, who also believes Viola is a man, and who regards her as his confidant.

When Sebastian arrives on the scene, confusion ensues. Mistaking him for Viola, Olivia asks him to marry her, and they are secretly married by a priest. Finally, when the twins appear in the presence of both Olivia and the Duke, there is more wonder and awe at their similarity, at which point Viola reveals she is really a female and that Sebastian is her lost twin brother. The play ends in a declaration of marriage between the Duke and Viola, Toby and Maria, and Olivia and Sebastian, though their marriages are never actually seen.

Much of the play is taken up with the comic subplot, in which several characters conspire to make Olivia's pompous head steward, Malvolio, believe that his lady Olivia wishes to marry him. It involves Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby Belch; her would-be suitor, a silly squire named Sir Andrew Ague-Cheek; her servants Maria and Fabian; and her father's favorite fool, Feste. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew disturb the peace of their lady's house by keeping late hours and perpetually singing catches at the very top of their voices.
Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew Ague-Cheek and company convince Malvolio that Olivia is secretly in love with him, and write a letter in Olivia's hand, asking Malvolio to wear yellow stockings cross-gartered, be rude to the rest of the servants, and to smile in all circumstances. Olivia, saddened by Viola's attitude to her, asks for her chief steward, and is shocked by a Malvolio who has seemingly lost his mind. She leaves him to the contrivances of his tormentors.

He is locked up in a room, with a slit for light. Feste visits him to mock his "insanity", once disguised as the priest, and again as himself. At the end of the play Malvolio learns of their conspiracy and storms off promising revenge, but the Duke despatches someone (probably Fabian) to pacify him.