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Shakespeare & Beyond

Twelfth Night: The Hamlet of the comedies

William Oliver Watkins as Orsino and Caitlin McWethy as Viola in Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s 2018 Twelfth Night, directed by Austin Tichenor. By Mikki Schaffner Photography.
William Oliver Watkins as Orsino and Caitlin McWethy as Viola in Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s 2018 Twelfth Night, directed by Austin Tichenor. By Mikki Schaffner Photography.
Abby Lee as Olivia and Patrick Earl Phillips as Sebastian in Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s 2018 production of “Twelfth Night”, directed by Austin Tichenor. By Mikki Schaffner Photography.

Abby Lee as Olivia and Patrick Earl Phillips as Sebastian in Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s 2018 production of Twelfth Night, directed by Austin Tichenor. By Mikki Schaffner Photography.

Hey, I figured it out! Twelfth Night is the Hamlet of Shakespeare’s comedies. Let’s look at the evidence. The plays are both:

  • Two of Shakespeare’s greatest achievements, and among his most popular plays in their respective genres;
  • Incredibly rich dramatic works packed with both tragic and comic elements; and
  • Centered around characters who improvise wildly after experiencing great personal loss.

They also feature:

  • Struggles with madness, or at least the appearance of it;
  • Romantic confusion, tricksy devices, and overheard conversations; as well as
  • Psychological manipulation, plots of revenge, multiple deaths
  • And ghosts.

These thoughts came to mind because I’m directing Twelfth Night for Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (which opens this week), and I discovered that, despite its much-deserved popularity, it’s a big play to get your head around — particularly if, like me, you’ve only ever seen productions of it and never actually worked on it yourself, and only studied the script long enough to plunder parts of it for re-purpose in William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). My initial observation that, “My God, this play’s as massive as Hamlet,” was originally a glib joke, but the more I began to think about it, the more I realized that, like all the best jokes, there was some truth underneath.