FLORENCE – In Norton Auditorium at UNA, the Aquila Theatre performed Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night this past Monday.
Twelfth Night is known to be one of Shakespeare’s funniest and most charming comedies. It is about the mistaken identities of identical twins set within the world of Illyria, after Viola shipwrecks on its coast. The play’s themes explore love and love’s effect on human behavior.
When I first heard about Twelfth Night coming to Florence, I had wonderful thoughts of culture and beautifully written words coming to life on stage. I wanted the Aquila Theatre to make me laugh in a 1600s kind of way. To my disappointment, laughs were rare throughout Norton Auditorium. It also didn’t help that actors were slipping up with Shakespeare’s unique script either.
The best and perhaps the most interesting thing about the play was it’s awesome stage set up. With aid from a projector, a few long ropes here and there was able to create believable boats, houses and the beach.
The Aquila’s version of Twelfth Night lacked laughs, the audience’s interest, and it moved slower than a turtle in a race with time. I give the Aquila’s performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night two shipwrecks out of five.
