Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare
MP3 CD
(IDB Productions, March 15, 2016)
Although this isn't necessarily the most well-known comedic play written by Shakespeare, nor the most powerful in its delivery, it is certainly among the most entertaining plays that the Bard managed to bring forth. With plenty of humor, intrigue, exciting scenes dominated by characters in disguise and complex love triangles that add a whole lot more fun and dimension to the characters' personalities, this entertaining piece of literary art has it all: excitement, funny comments and the most fulfilling, fast-paced action. As you read through it, you may find it is often difficult to even remember that Twelfth Night is a play written more than 400 years ago, yet Shakespeare's timeless skill takes the spotlight in placing his characters and bringing them to life as part of a story that is so realistic, you might as well see it played out on the paper it's written on. The plot of the story is perhaps among the most enticing elements of the play. With the twins Viola and Sebastian taking the center stage as the characters around which all the action revolves, the action truly takes off after the two are separated by a shipwreck, Sebastian believed to have died, while Viola is forced to disguise herself as a man. Viola's story is what most of the play is focused on. The young woman falls in love with Duke Orsino, while her male alter ego receives all the attention from Countess Olivia, who is revealed to have fallen in love with Cesario - the young man whose personality is so faithfully animated by Viola. Twelfth Night has become a classic not only because of its association with William Shakespeare, but mainly due to its intuitive, believable events and characters, the fun and intriguing plot and the characters, whose remarkable depth and complexity is shown throughout the play, entertaining and often shocking readers and spectators, even centuries after the play was performed for the first time.