The Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society are revisiting Shakespeare’s comedy A Twelfth Night , for their thirteenth season, 10 years after they first performed it in 2014.

 

Actors of all ages are welcome to audition for one of 15-20 roles.

 

 Auditions are  March 1 and 2 with callbacks happening March 3.

 University of Lethbridge grad and Playgoers of Lethbridge/ Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society veteran Cole Fetting is excited to direct his first show with the troupe with his mentor Sharon Peat.

“She taught me drama in high school.  She has done a lot of productions for m LCI, New West Theatre and Chinook High. And she and I have a lot of similar ideas. So we got to talking about them and presented it to the board and they approved it,” Fetting enthused, adding the play will be set in Shakespearean  times.

 

“I’m a big fan of classical Shakespeare. Though I really enjoy it when people set it in other eras,” he continued.   

 

“ We had a lot of requests from people for A Twelfth Night, who said they regretted not seeing it the first time we did it,” he continued.

A Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy believed to have been written by Shakespeare around 1601-2 for the close of the Christmas season.

It is about twins Viola and Sebastian who are separated  by a shipwreck. In her search for her brother, Viola disguises herself as a man  called Cesario and falls in love with Duke Orsinio who falls in love with Countess Olivia.

Humour ensues as misunderstandings and misidentifications unfold among a cast of compelling characters including Feste the jester.

Fetting noted they will be using the same abridged script the troupe used 10 years ago for this show. 

“And costume designer Amanda Epp is already hard at work on costumes,” Fetting said.

 A Twelfth Night will open July 4 in Galt Gardens. There will be performances most  Thursdays and Fridays usually in Galt Gardens, a few at casa as well a special performances at the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens, Legacy park plus their usual out of town road trips to the Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod,  The Venue in High River and The Coutts Arts Centre outside of Nanton.

 A Twelfth Night will close in August.

 

 Rehearsals will begin in May with days and times to be determined by the cast members’ schedules.

“This will be the ultimate Shakespeare Summer experience,” Fetting enthused.

 

“ I’ve always wanted to direct a show for Shakespeare in the Park,” he said, adding he missed the production the first time  around.

“I was still a little nervous about the audition  process,” he said. He has been a mainstay in numerous Lethbridge Shakespeare  Society productions.

“It’s going to be a fun summer. I’m looking forward to  the audience‘s reaction to the play,” Fetting said.

 

Auditions are  March 1 and 2 with callbacks happening March 3.

 

 Audition times are 6:30-9:30 p.m. Friday March 1 and Saturday, March 2 at casa. Callbacks will be Sunday, march 3 between 10. a,.m. and 1:30 p.m.

To audition, send a  performance résumé and head shot to stage manager   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Prepare a short Shakespeare monologue (or a song) for the audition.

— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor