Although some may think of Shakespeare as boring, this year’s production of Twelfth Night is anything but. The WHHS version of the play will combine an old-world Shakespeareian aesthetic mixed with a modern-day tropical resort, creating an intriguing and entertaining combination.

Even though it seems difficult, the costume, props, hair and makeup, deck, lights, sound, and marketing and publicity crews that are creating the world of Twelfth Night are eager for the challenge of interpreting this iconic Shakespearean play in a more contemporary light. There are many challenges that come hand-in-hand with Shakespeare, including being able to understand the words that were used in the early 1600’s.

“Shakespeare isn’t the way we talk anymore, but through performance, we can make it accessible and understandable to an audience,” Helen Raymond-Goers, the technical director, said.
The background research and pre-production process for a Shakespeare play is even more challenging for crews. They need to figure out how to make sure that everyone can understand the play while making sure only minimal changes are made to the original script.
“With Shakespeare, it’s a deeper level of research and stuff that you have to understand, especially with his comedies, because the jokes aren’t funny if you don’t understand the meter and the words that are being said,” McKenzie Bell, ‘26, assistant stage manager, said.
Even though the crews are contemporizing this play, they want to make sure that viewers can still tell that the play is one of Shakespeare’s. There will be small details in the costumes, set, and props that will be a nod to Shakespeare.
“Theater gives me an environment to showcase a lot of different things, not specifically just my acting, and it also is a great group of people who just all are very funny and nice,” Adelaide Linser, ‘26, the marketing and publicity crew head, said.
With every theater production, not just Shakespeare performances, both the actors and the crew members have big roles. All of them are needed to be able to put on a great performance.
“Everybody has a voice,” Raymond-Goers said, “Every actor, every designer, the director, the stage manager, everybody has a voice and an input where everybody’s opinion is taken into account and used to create the piece.”