400 years after the debut of William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” SCH Players revived the play with a new 21st-century twist. The production saw director Dave Snyder (the former Players music director) guide actors through the extremely difficult task of remaking a somewhat archaic play. The thoughtful acting choices, hilarious comedy, and professional caliber of light and sound more than impressed all in attendance. However, many in attendance noted their slight confusion over the play’s plot and central themes as they left the Rec. 

The story takes place in Illyria and follows Viola (Sophie Piatkowski ‘24) as she becomes separated from her twin Sebastian (Caitlin Keough ‘25), who dresses as a boy and works for the Duke Orsino (Ryan Agnew ‘24), whom she then falls in love with. Orsino is in love with the Countess Olivia (Ava Szalay ‘24), and sends Viola to court her for him, but Olivia falls for Viola instead. Sebastian arrives, causing a flood of mistaken identity and marries Olivia. Viola then reveals she is a girl and marries Orsino. 

These central players’ stories then become intertwined with multiple other comedic subplots. These comedic roles were especially memorable to the audience, like the absolutely sidesplitting portrayal of the drunken Sir Andrew (Patrick Gaghan ‘25). However, their amount of scenes seemed to be greater than the central characters’. The male lead, Orsino, was only featured in four scenes throughout the entire production, offering another major source of confusion.

Like any attempt at modernizing such a complicated Shakespearean play, there is a challenge in helping the audience understand Shakespeare’s 17th century language. Clearly SCH Players found a unique and innovative solution to this dilemma. Overall, Snyder and all actors involved in this production did an incredible job of making the Rec come alive with laughter during all five acts.