Cecil Pickett, the adapter, was a member of the drama faculty of the University of Houston well known for his genius as a director of the plays of Shakespeare and Moliere. Beginning his career as a director for nine years at Houston's Bellaire High School, Mr. Pickett used us own adaptations of the classics to win the state championship of the University Interscholastic League one-act play contest a record-breaking five times. It takes time and skill to reduce a two- or three-hour play to 35 minutes.

His skills at cutting long plays to contest length is well demonstrated in this adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy about the twins, Viola and Sebastian, who were shipwrecked and washed ashore in Illyria. Using clowns and jesters to make the simple scene changes, Mr. Pickett produces a fast-moving 35-minute play uninterrupted by blackouts or curtains. The favorite characters—Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Malvolio, Maria, the beautiful countess Olivia, and the handsome duke Orsino—are all present to help entertain audiences and win contests. Full detailed stage directions show how Cecil Pickett staged this prize-winning adaptation.

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies, and it demonstrates two of the Bard's favorite comic devices: a girl disguised as a boy, and the confusion caused by identical twins. The girl-as-boy device was particularly funny to Elizabethan audiences because all roles were played by men. Thus they watched a male actor portray a female character who in turn masqueraded as a male. The fact that Shakespeare used this double transformation in several plays indicates that his audiences thought it was hilarious.

The double-take surprise of confronting identical twins has produced laughs throughout the ages. But this device does create a small problem for directors not fortunate enough to have identical twins available for casting. But it really is just a small problem. The distance from actor to audience and the willingness of audiences to see what they are told they are seeing enable the costume and make-up crews to turn an actor and an actress who look a little alike into acceptable carbon copies. Production Notes in the playscript offer suggestions.

In addition to the main characters, the adapter has promoted Shakespeare's clowns, Feste and Fabian, to the role of narrator, and his added six clowns (who may be reduced to two if it is necessary to reduce the size of the cast) to change the set and provide a background for the action.

Also by Pickett: The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream

More Shakespeare: As You Like It, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew

See also: Makbeth by Schechner