Some photos

This is a photo of Maria and Sir Toby Belch from a "Twelfth Night" done at Bath Community Theatre Guild, directed by Karl Paananen several years ago.

Words, words, words, pt. 2

"Eat my shorts!"

You hear that and you probably think of the Simpsons, right? Of course, right. (Wait, Fiddler on the Roof was last year...)

However, Matthew Groening, the creator of the Simpsons, borrowed that phrase from an earlier source--a movie that was the quintessence of 80s culture: The Breakfast Club. It was a member of the Brat Pack that would say the line, paving the way for the Simpsons.

Here's a clip of the line as it first appeared:

Animotion - Obsession

This song makes a brief appearance in "Twelfth Night: The Shakespeare Club." Some students are mocking one of their classmates. They think it is the perfect song for Orsino whom they say is obsessed with Olivia, but not in love with her.

I'm just the playwright and it is the director who will block, but I sure hope he uses some of the very 80s dance moves from this video.

BBC Shakespeare Animated Tales - Twelfth Night - Part 1

Words, words, words

Throughout the script, the students use a variety of 80s slang. I'll provide a little information about that slang periodically, eventually hitting on all of the words in the script.

Barf Me Out--This was very much a part of Valley Girl slang, though non-VGs used it too. It had several variations including "gross me out," "grody" and "make me barf." It was, as the words imply something that makes the speaker feel ill or that they think is disgusting. A Valley Girl might say that if she didn't like what you were saying. It often had "Like," in front of it.

It appeared in Frank Zappa's song, "Valley Girl."

Chill! or Take a Chill Pill--This is another term that comes to us from the Valley Girls. It's a way of telling someone to calm down or relax. Usually the person to whom it is being said has lost his or her temper or is acting in an extreme emotional manner.

Tomorrow I'll post part two of the animation from the BBC and then introduce a few of the characters--both in the traditional Twelfth Night and in our Twelfth Night.

Valley Girl Song

"Twelfth Night" at Waverly High School

When auditions last week brought in not quite enough actors of both genders to perform William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" in the traditional manner. So Director Richard C. Redman decided to adapt the play with the help of his wife, Bridgette.

The new version of the play (which they began writing Sunday and hope to have done by the end of the week) creates an almost Breakfast Club-style format. A group of students are meeting in a garage to work on the Homecoming Float for their theater class. The float is for "Twelfth Night." Several of them are complaining about having to do Shakespeare and they then begin acting out many of the scenes.

There is also a secondary plot to Will's main work. This plot will involve the students and be a partial mirror to the original plot.

Here is the character list as it stands now:

Paige Graham: Jenni, she ends up directing many of the scenes while playing Olivia; she also sometimes plays Feste

Rachel Weinfeld: Liz who plays Viola and Sebastian

Robert McConnel: Tony who plays several roles but primarily Orsino in the beginning and Toby Belch most of the time.

Phil Frank: Mike who plays the sea captain, the early Andrew Aguecheek scenes, and Feste in some scenes.

Kelly Patterson: Krista plays Malvolio

Lindsey Blair: Debbie plays Maria, sometimes fills in for Sebastian

Morgan Smith: Stacey is the understudy for Maria and later plays Orsinio

Rachel Spidle: Heidi who plays Antonio

Analislia Tupper: Heidi who is on the tech crew, but they convince her to read for Aguecheek, she also plays First Officer.

Jzhyia Woods: Kimberly who plays Curio and second officer

Sarah Herbruck: Cyndi who plays Valentine and Fabian

EDIT: As this is a work in progress, the character descriptions have already changed. Once the script is done, I'll try to introduce each character--or ask the actors playing the characters to introduce themselves.