Twelfth Night’ ends the term with a bang

In the penultimate week of the spring term, the Oswald Elliott Hall transported audiences back to the Roaring Twenties in the senior production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The show saw more than fifty Year 10-13 students take on one of the Bard’s most notable works, exploring a golden age, a post-war economic boom for the bright young things of the aristocracy that ended in an almighty bust, shepherding in the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was a period growing to ecstasy after great tragedy and Twelfth Night reflects this, balancing outlandish comic moments with sadness, loss and regret – beginning in mourning and ending in exuberance. Peter Brook, the notable director, said, ‘Shakespeare doesn’t belong to the past’. SES director Carrie Hill’s artistic decision to combine Shakespeare’s language, a 1920s design, and a fusion of jazz and modern pop music meant that a mix of old and new complemented Shakespeare’s blend of the profound and profane. Show week saw three tour de force performances, delighting audiences of all ages. The whole company is to be praised for their superb work; performances of note were students Darcy Johnson (Year 12), who skilfully created the lead role of Viola/Cesario, and Daniel Watt (Year 13), who masterfully balanced the austere and comic Malvolio.