by Mario Gambino

A group of students with little in common but performing sit transfixed as the director describes the plot of a 400-hundred-year-old play to some teenagers who've never seen a thirty year old movie, in preparation for the school's production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night or What you Will (the story's oft-forgotten subtitle) is a mistaken identity comedy made complex by the bard, a common term for Shakespeare meaning poet. Shakespeare was proficient in his use of simple plots made complex by fully developed characters and dense dialogue full of vivid imagery. The play begins with Viola, the lead character, washed up on shore in the aftermath of a shipwreck. She masquerades as a man in order to be of service to the Duke of the island.

She is originally a messenger to the Duke to send his love to Lady Olivia, but the Duke instead falls for her, despite his belief that she is a man. This starts the chain of dominos falling and, appropriately enough, hilarity ensues.

The often cited subplot involves even more deception. Several characters conspire to make a fool of the "kind of puritan" steward of Olivia by making him believe the lady has fallen for him in a love letter that asks him to behave most idiotically for her affections. Again, hilarity ensues and the play reaches a crescendo of mistaken identity and cruelty that is a joy to watch.

This is Mainland's first time adaption of Shakespeare for the school's annual fall play. Plays from the past have included 12 Angry Men, And Then There Were None and Curious Savage.

Mainland teacher and director Becky Sannino's choice of Shakespeare has come as a surprise to some of the students interested in drama. A majority of students have little exposure to Shakespeare, other than reading Romeo & Juliet in English, class where many get to see the 1996 loose adaption of the play. However, few students realize just how familiar they are with Shakespeare and his writing.

Throughout history people have "borrowed" shamelessly from Shakespeare. Some adaptions include West Side Story, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Lion King and its sequels, and even an episode of South Park all take from Shakespeare in some way. They are all based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Taming of The Shrew, Hamlet, and Titus Andronicus respectively. I'm sure the majority of people have seen at least one of these "adaptations" and did not even realize it was based on an English play hundreds of years old.

The reason Shakespeare is borrowed from so heavily is because his stories are timeless. The stories of star-crossed lovers, cases of mistaken identity, or the fall of a leader speak to every generation no matter what kind of language is used to express these themes. Some people will be hesitant to read Shakespeare for fear of not understanding his complex prose, but one can crack the "code" and get to the rewarding story underneath with very minimal effort. There are scores of sources and tools available to the already glued-to-the-computer-screen teen to make the Shakespearean syntax mountain a lot easier to scale and reach the peak to an entertaining tale.

MRHS's production of Twelfth Night will happen Nov. 17, 18 and 19 in the auditorium.