event analysis

Katie White

Dr. Juniper Ellis

EN 101.21

29 Nov. 2012

Play On

Last weekend I went to the plays “The Wedding” and “The Real Inspector Hound” at McManus Theatre. I really enjoyed discovering the talent of my fellow Loyola students. It was truly amazing to see how talented the actors and actresses were. Their voices were captivating as they sung and their acting skills were very convincing. The stage did not include very many props at all. However, the acting was so marvelous that an image of the intended setting was still depicted for the viewers. As I read William Shakespeare’s “The Twelfth Night, Or What You Will” I noticed that there are many resemblances and similarities between his play and “The Wedding”.

One theme in both “The Wedding” and “The Twelfth Night, Or What You Will” is romance. The plot of “The Wedding” is centered upon a newly married couple. It takes the viewers through their life following the wedding. Much of the play takes place at the scene of the wedding reception and thereafter. William Shakespeare’s “The Twelfth Night, Or What You Will” is purely focused on love. Its entire plot displays the interconnected relationships of love and lust between various characters.

Another parallel between the two plays was the contrast in status between the characters that fell in “love”. Both plays defied the issue of social class separating partners. In “The Wedding” the husband was of a higher class than his wife. However, they still married. “The Twelfth Night, Or What You Will” creates a love connection between the nobleman Orsino and his lower class servant Viola. Their imbalance does not seem to have an effect on their relationship though. There is also a contrast between social classes as the servant Malvolio develops a longing for his master Olivia.

The last correspondence between the two plays is the distinction between love and lust. Many of the characters in “The Twelfth Night, Or What You Will” claim their feelings to be love. Although they do so, in reality their feelings are only unsteady desires and false affection. In “The Wedding” the husband did not seem to truly love his wife. He was highly concerned with physical passion rather than a real, deeper, and more intimate relationship. It seems as if he may have possessed more of a lust-oriented attraction for his wife rather than one of true love. Duke’s attachment for Olivia does not represent a true portrayal of love. Olivia’s love for Cesario is not real either, because it is based off such a small foundation. She barely knows Cesario but claims to already be in love based off the way he talks and present himself.

I am really happy that I went to these plays. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to experience the talents of fellow students. There was not much of an audience at the play. This is unfortunate, because I believe that others should witness the skill of the theater group at Loyola.