AUDITIONS
If music be the food of love, play on
Barre Players presents
Twelfth Night
Director: Jessie Olson
AUDITIONS:
Sunday, January 10 at 1pm
Tuesday, January 12 at 6:30pm
Thursday, January 14 – snowdate and/or callbacks if needed
You can sign up for an audition HERE.
Though not required, this will help us prepare.
Actors are asked to prepare (reading with a script in hand is okay) a short comedic Shakespeare monologue. There will be readings from the script.
PERFORMANCES
Fridays, April 2 and 9 at 7:30pm
Saturdays, April 3 and 10 at 7:30pm
Sundays, April 4 and 11 at 2pm
Rehearsals will be on Sundays 2-5 as well as Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings at 6:30.
The first rehearsal will be Sunday, January 31.
Synopsis
After a shipwreck, Viola lands in Illyria. She disguises herself as Cesario and goes to work for Duke Orsino (in our production a famous rock star). Orsino is in love with Countess Olivia, who is in mourning for her father and brother and uninterested in his admiration. The Duke enlists his new servant Cesario (Viola) to woo on his behalf. Olivia does not change her mind about the Duke, but instead falls for Cesario – who as Viola has fallen for Orsino. Yes, this is a very tangled love triangle.
Olivia has two other admirers – her head servant Malvolio and her uncle Toby’s friend, Andrew Aguecheek. Malvolio is very prim, proper, and believes himself to be better than all the other members of the household. This inspires the other servants Maria, Feste, and Fabian as well as Toby and Andrew to trick Malvolio into believing that Olivia is in love with him.
Sebastian appears on the streets of town with his friend (and wanted man) Antonio. Before the twins are reunited there are a series of comic mistaken identities, an outlandish costume of yellow stockings, an attempted duel, a hasty marriage, and ultimately a happy ending.
This production will be set in the 1980s.
If you want to get a better understanding of the full script, there are several audio and filmed versions available. A few we recommend are:
BBC Radio 3 recording featuring David Tennant and Vanessa Kirby
PBS – Great Performances – The Public Theater’s 2025 production featuring Lupita Nyong’o, Junior Nyong’o, Peter Dinklage, Sandra Oh, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Daphne Rubin-Vega
NT Live – 2017 Production featuring Tasmin Greg as Malvolia
On Sunday, January 4 we will host a reading of the script at Barre Players. Please come to read and hear it aloud.
Flexible casting for a large ensemble.
All roles are open to actors ages 16 and up.
We encourage diversity in casting and welcome everyone to audition.
******If you can play a musical instrument (anything from guitar to tambourine to harmonica) we hope you will share with us. Several characters, especially Feste, have the opportunity to sing and play music in this show.*****
Available Roles:
Orsino, Duke of Illyria and rock star
Sebastian, brother to Viola
Antonio, a sea captain, friend to Sebastian
A Sea Captain, friend to Viola
Valentine, Curio, gentlemen attending on the Duke
Sir Toby Belch, kinsman of Olivia
Sir Andrew Aguecheek, suitor of Olivia
Malvolio, steward to Olivia
Fabian, an attendant to Olivia
The Clown Feste, Olivia's fool and a traveling musician
Olivia a countess
Viola, in love with the Duke; sister to Sebastian
Maria, Olivia's gentlewoman
Lords, a Priest, Sailors, Officers, Musicians, and other attendants
We are also actively seeking help to work behind the scenes. If you like to build, paint, sew costumes, or make props, let us know. We welcome your participation in this show.
Questions? Email us: barreplayers@gmail.com