About Twelfth Night

With cross-dressing nobles in a love triangle of mistaken identities, while their guests party and sing all night and their servants plot practical jokes, Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will is one of Shakespeare's most delightful comedies. Beginning with the famous line "If music be the food of love, play on," Twelfth Night is full of songs and music of Shakespeare's era, which we will perform live on period instruments.

The holiday of Twelfth Night fell at the end of the twelve days of Christmas, on Epiphany. It was celebrated with lively feasting, drinking, cake, merrymaking, plays, and a mock "lord of misrule" or "king for a day."

In Shakespeare's day, less than a third of the male population could read, and less than a tenth of the female. Yet people of all ranks enjoyed going to the theatre to "hear a play." Shakespeare is meant to be heard, and seen, rather than read.

FREE INTRO PROGRAM: Behind the Scenes of Twelfth Night with Michael Gurney and Lise Kreps,
Sat June 7, 2:00 pm, @ Gibsons & District Public Library
Join directors and actors from the upcoming production of TWELFTH NIGHT for entertaining excerpts from - and insights into - the play and the Elizabethan world. Space is limited; registration is recommended.

Listen to and Watch Twelfth Night (unabridged)

• BBC Radio 3 actors read Twelfth Night (audio only)

• Globe Theatre's fantastic 16thC period Twelfth Night (2012, with Stephen Fry and Mark Rylance) - watch clips, buy online, buy DVD (or borrow Melissah's), or place a hold and borrow from the library

• Texas Shakespeare Festival's Twelfth Night video

• For lush atmospherics, watch the 1970 film of Twelfth Night, with Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson, and Joan Plowright

• Twelfth Night summary and analysis video, with a fascinating cornucopia of clips from many, many productions

Twelfth Night Scripts

• ***Our production's Abridged Twelfth Night Script v3***, posted Feb 25 2025. And our corrected scene breakdown.

• Twelfth Night summary, script and more from Folger Shakespeare Library

• Twelfth Night Navigator with handy scene summaries and annotations explaining the weirder words

• Not used to Shakespearean English? Read the side-by-side translation of Twelfth Night

• Original capitalization and spellings in Twelfth Night: First Folio (1623) facsimile and text

NOTES FOR CAST MEMBERS

Speaking and understanding Shakespeare

• ShakespeareWithSarah Youtube channel, including actors' guides to

  • Characters in Twelfth Night

  • Speaking in iambic pentameter

  • How to act Shakespeare

• Glossary of Shakespearean words and names, with pronunciations (click the speaker icon; apostrophe comes just before the stressed syllable)

• For natural yet powerful delivery of Shakespeare's words, few can match Benedict Cumberbatch. Watch his Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech.

• Ben Crystal, actor from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, and author. His ShakespeareOnToast Youtube channel has many gems, including:

  • What's Iambic Pentameter? (5 min)

  • How to Map a Shakespeare Speech (18 min, well worth it)

  • The First Folio, and a 1676 working script copy (9 min)

  • Although Shakespearean Original Pronunciation (10 min, shot in the Globe Theatre) is fascinating, our production will be in ordinary Western Canadian.

• NoSweatShakespeare Twelfth Night - modern translation

• Colorado University & Shakespeare Festival free online course about Twelfth Night

• Why yellow stockings for Malvolio?

• What is an Italian Run?

Renaissance Music and Dance

• Playlist of songs and music we will use in our Twelfth Night, and scores for them (subject to change)

• Practice audio files for each voice part, full scores, and translations of Sing We and Chant It, Tourdion - Quand je bois du vin clairet, So Ben Mi Ch'a Bon Tempo, and When That I Was (score, audio).

• Passamezzo antico chord progression - basis of many Renaissance dances and songs (including Greensleeves, and even some and modern pop songs); or, if you're Sir Toby, "Passymeasures"

• Renaissance Dance teaching videos

  • Galliard (also "Cinquepace" after its five steps - or, if you're Sir Toby, "Sink-a-pace")

  • Coranto (also "Courante")

  • Bransle (Washerwoman's Bransle - we like the scolding fingers)

  • Pavan (also "pavane" or "pavin")

Thank you!

Lise & Michael

Sunshine Coast Community Shakespeare Project

coastshakespeare ( at ) gmail.com

We are fortunate and grateful to work and play in ch'atlich (Sechelt), on the unceded ancestral lands of the shíshálh Nation.