By Arden X. ‘27

Crystal recently finished its performance of the Upper School Fall Play, borrowing their story from William Shakespeare’s iconic romantic comedy: Twelfth Night. As a part of the cast for the Twelfth Night play, I got an inside look at how such a complicated show was put together and how amazing of an experience it was.

Synopsis of Twelfth Night

Before the play begins, two twins, Viola (a girl played by Hanna P. ‘24) and Sebastian (played by Charlie W. ‘26) can be seen on a ship. The play begins as Viola and Sebastian get shipwrecked, and the twins get separated. Viola washes up on the shores of Illyria, a mythical place in Greece. She believes that her brother has died, and decides to dress up like a boy in an attempt to get a job as a servant for the local duke, Duke Orsino (played by Eddy F. ‘24). Viola also changes her name to Cessario. It’s very important to know that Viola, dressed up as a boy, looks extremely similar to Sebastian, leading people to confuse the two characters during the play. 

Cessario is hired by Duke Orsino and discovers the Duke is trying to marry Countess Olivia (played by Lily C. ‘25). However, Olivia doesn’t want to marry Duke Orsino because she is still mourning her recently deceased brother and also simply does not like Orsino. Duke Orsino sends Cessario multiple times to send letters to Olivia on his behalf, but with each visit, Olivia begins to fall in love with Cessario more and more. This puts Cessario in a dilemma: since Olivia thinks Cessario is a boy, even though he is actually a girl. For now, Cessario turns down Olivia. 

Meanwhile, Sebastian is saved by a sailor named Antonio (played by Cameron K. ‘26) during the shipwreck. Once he lands on the beaches of Illyria, he mourns for the loss of his sister, as he believes that Viola died at sea. Sebastian decides to head to Duke Orsino’s court, leaving Antonio behind. However, unbeknownst to Sebastian, Antonio secretly follows him. 

In a series of chaotic events, Antonio sees Cessario, but mistakes Cessario for Sebastian, and greets him. Cessario is confused by this man’s friendliness, as he has no idea who Antonio is. However, Antonio is a wanted man in Illyria, so by greeting Cesario, he exposes himself to the police, who arrest him and bring him to Duke Orsino’s court. After this encounter with Antonio, Cessario begins to speculate that his brother did indeed survive the shipwreck. 

Eventually, Sebastian shows up at Olivia’s house. Olivia, mistaking Sebastian for Cessario, confesses her love and asks Sebastian to marry her. Sebastian has no idea who Olivia is, and why she’s suddenly in such a deep relationship with him, but he still accepts. They even hold a wedding with a priest to solidify their marriage. 

In the final scene, Cessario shows up at Olivia’s house and is confused about why she is calling him “husband.” He denies that claim, upsetting Olivia. Duke Orsino, seeing this, feels like Cessario betrayed him. Then, a servant of Olivia says that he just got badly injured from a fight with Cessario, even though Cessario had been talking with Olivia the whole time, and not within the vicinity of that servant. All this confusing chaos comes to an end when Sebastian shows up. Everyone now realizes that there are two people, Sebastian and Cessario who look exactly identical. The twins see each other and have a touching reunion. During that reunion, Cessario reveals that he was actually a girl named Viola. 

At the very end, Duke Orsino proposes to Viola and she accepts, thus resolving the confusion and leaving everyone with a happy ending.

The Production Process of Twelfth Night 

Production of Twelfth Night began the first week of September. As the weeks went by, the play quickly came together, transitioning from working on a single scene in a single rehearsal to working on a whole act, then to working on entire halves of the play. Eventually, tech week came, where the magic of production began. Prior to tech week, the play’s development consisted only of fragments of each scene and act, the only thing linking the whole play being the script. However, during the rehearsal days on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of tech week, the stressful week before the first show in which everything comes together, these fragmented pieces began to fit together, just like the pieces in a puzzle. To the actors, and even to the directors, the feeling of a play beginning to come together was as incredible as the sight of a total solar eclipse. The final element before the three performances was an exclusive performance only for the actors’ parents on Wednesday. 

The culmination of 10 hard weeks of work, both from the crü and from the cast, were the three spectacular performances on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. There was constant laughter from the audience, the actors performed impeccably, and the overall play went extremely smoothly, without any major mistakes or interruptions. Even with an actor missing on Friday and three more missing on Saturday due to illness, the show went on and delivered spectacularly for everyone in attendance. 

An Unforgettable Experience

Even though I was only involved in the production of Twelfth Night during tech week as a limited cast member of the band, it still was a truly unforgettable experience. The amount of spirit and sense of community within the cast was something I had never seen before. From the rituals they perform before each performance, to the traditions of Junior-Senior gift-giving, it’s something that is unforgettable, even just for a one-time cast member. The memories I made during tech week will forever be cherished in my heart.