Last Thursday, Dec. 5, three Boulder High Language Arts classes attended a performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The show was about two and a half hours long with a fifteen-minute intermission.

Twelfth Night is a comedy in which the narrator explores the ideas of love, identity, and deception. The play delves into gender-bending disguise and unrequited love, all amidst hilarious mischief. The main character of the play is Viola, who disguises herself as a man named Cesario in order to get a job in Duke Orsino’s court. Viola is sent to woo Orsino’s love interest, Olivia, but Viola is secretly in love with Orsino herself. In a troublesome turn of events, Olivia falls in love with Cesario, who is really Viola in disguise. Yet another layer of complication is added when Sebastian, Viola’s identical twin brother who was previously thought to be dead, comes into the picture and meets Olivia. The two of them marry in secret, and this all culminates in a confusing confrontation between the four lovebirds. There is a happy ending in which Viola reveals her true self and ends up with Duke Orsino, and Olivia and Sebastian are happy together. The play is full of humor and trickery, making it very entertaining.

DCPA’s rendition of this production was incredibly well done. Each actor was visibly committed to their role, perfectly encapsulating their mannerisms and attitudes. Every character employed a dialect from the Eastern Mediterranean, as the setting is believed to be on the modern-day Croatian coast. I very much enjoyed the production. I laughed out loud throughout the play and was able to perfectly follow the plotline despite the complex Old English it was presented in. We were able to attend the play for free thanks to a federal grant for education in the arts, and the audience was made up of other high schoolers from around the Denver area. This combined with the fact that the show was performed in a 360 degree theater provided such an engaging atmosphere, which definitely improved my experience. Twelfth Night played at the Space Theatre in Denver through Dec. 22.