UF’s Shakespeare in the Park club is providing another year of free outdoor Shakespearean entertainment to campus.
“Twelfth Night,” a classic William Shakespeare play about mistaken identity and romantic confusion, is the club’s mainstage performance and its largest production of the year.
The play will stay true to the plot and themes, Adam Walker, a UF English senior, said.
“It’s still a five-act play, and we try to keep everything intact; what you see is Shakespeare and nothing added, just a few marginal things,” the 23-year-old said.
Walker has been part of the club since his junior year, and he plays Sebastian in “Twelfth Night.”
The play has been in the making since September, including casting, rehearsals, costumes and set design. Performances will all take place on Plaza of the Americas at 7 p.m. from Thursday to Sunday and Sunday at 1 p.m. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets or chairs.
For the first time, there will be a performance by The Staff, UF’s all-male a cappella group during intermission.
“I think this is really great, this is a good way to work with other organizations and show our support for students also involved,” Walker said.
The setting will draw references to student life on campus, tailoring the play to life at UF.
“The setting is going to be on campus, and the idea is that with the costumes, they will portray different groups on campus,” he said. “I think there is a hipster group and then the frat guys and frat girls and the preppy guys.”
Shakespeare’s plays are known to draw contemporary adaptations, including the 2006 film “She’s the Man,” based on “Twelfth Night,” and “10 Things I Hate About You,” based on “The Taming of the Shrew.”
Jordan Bernas, a 22-year-old UF English senior, said the costumes are comprised of a lot of baseball caps, khaki shorts and boat shoes.
“We make the physical comedy over the top so people know what’s going on; even people who have never seen Shakespeare can come to the production and totally understand what is going on,” Bernas said. It has a lot of themes that students who are in college totally can understand.”
Director Alison Sigalow, a 20-year-old UF elementary education junior, said Shakespeare’s work has natural elements audiences will experience because of the outdoor atmosphere.
“Shakespeare was almost always performed outside and I feel like that really connects,” she said. You come and sit on a blanket, and you come and enjoy and it’s really relaxed.”
Sigalow emphasized how Shakespeare is universal, and everyone can find something they connect to in one of his plays.
“Even though he wrote this play 500 years ago, it’s still true and relevant and reflects what we go through as college students,” Sigalow said.
