Student Review Of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' At Herndon HD

From The Cappies: As the famous quote goes, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." Herndon High school certainly achieved greatness with their invigorating performance of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night, regarded as one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies, revolves around Viola, a girl who has lost her twin brother in a shipwreck. Finding herself on the shores of a foreign land, she disguises herself as a boy in order to serve the Count Orsino, who sends her as a messenger to woo the proud Olivia. But when Viola finds herself falling for Orsino and Olivia falls in love with Viola thinking she's a man, hi-jinks ensue.

Erin Maxwell was a magnetic presence onstage as she portrayed Viola with equal parts humor and heart. From her obvious pining for Orsino to her confusion over Olivia to her ability to balance the masculinity and femininity of her character, she captured the audience's attention every moment she was onstage and grounded the whole show with her clear understanding of the text and character. Another standout performance was Trace Hollenbeck as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who committed himself entirely to the ridiculousness of his character and was always sure to make the audience laugh. As the clever fool Feste, Rose Bailey stood out with consistent energy and effortless comedic timing. Shivam Shrivastava deftly executed both Malvolio's snobbery and madness, while Henry Metcalf (Sebastian) and Sean Sullivan (Orsino) both provided steady presences onstage and had excellent chemistry with Maxwell. Though issues with diction caused some verbal humor to be lost, the physical humor and ene
rgy of the cast made up for it.

The set, designed by Tina Thayer, adequately represented an impressive number of settings, including a speakeasy, a prison, and a garden. Sound effects, executed by Bridget Neely, were always perfectly timed, and jazz music added to the 1920's setting, as did hair and make-up by Celeste Gardy. Lighting effects by Michael Sasseen, including flashes of lightning, the wandering beam of a lighthouse, and use of spotlight, aided actors during their extensive use of the auditorium aisles.

The cast and crew of Twelfth Night at Herndon High School brought this 400-year-old play to roaring life with strong commitment and high energy, resulting in a production that was a delight to watch.

by Katie Bushman of Stone Bridge High School

The photo is by Robert Maxwell: (from left to right) Rose Bailey, Lylon Sanchez-Valido, Sean Sullivan, Erin Maxwell: