by Brooke Beall

On New Year's Day, we went to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Twelfth Night. I, being a fan of Shakespeare's plays, was very excited about seeing the show and I enjoyed it very much. I thought that the actors had developed their characters very well and, especially Olivia, added personality to their character. The only part of the play that I didn't like was the ending. Twelfth Night is supposed to be a comedy and it is supposed to end happily with the couples together and on a happy note. But in this production, it was not so.

For Feste's last song, the lights were dimmed and he had a very somber tone. Malvolio, Maria, Sir Toby, and Antonio all made crosses during his song. Even though Maria and Sir Toby were married and were thought of to be happy, during this cross, she throws her ring at him and stomped off. All of these characters are left without much of an ending to them (Antonio has lost Sebastian, and Malvolio was tricked and thought of to be mad). The director had them cross as if to tell the audience that not everyone in the play was happy, but seeing as this play is supposed to be a comedy, I don't agree with that decision.