For the fifth year in the row, the beautiful Lincoln Park Conservatory has become temporary home to Midsommer Flight’s annual production of Shakespeare comedy ‘Twelfth Night’. Admittedly, this was the main draw for me, as I love visiting the tantalizingly lush greenhouse space during Chicago’s colder months/ most of the year.  To accommodate the show, one of the Conservatory room has been turned into an intimate theatre with a catwalk-like narrow stage and two rows of chairs on either side.  Directed by Dylan S. Roberts, original music by Elizabeth Rentfro, Alex Mauney and Jordan Golding, this highly spirited and energetic play turned out to be a pure delight, amid green plants and ferns, notwithstanding Shakespeare’s witty dialogue.

Love is in the air, and mischief closely follows. A young woman, Viola (wonderfully played by Jackie Seijo), after being shipwrecked and stranded in a foreign land, poses as a man, becomes a servant to a nobleman, but then promptly falls in love with her master, Duke.  Duke’s heart, however, belongs to another – a wealthy woman Olivia, whose servant Malvolio (sassy Erika B. Caldwell, she’s so fun to watch!) gets pranked by his mistress’ household into believing that he, too, can merry into wealth and become a nobleman. Historically, there’s an old Christmas English tradition of role reversal, and it is believed that Shakespeare has written Twelfth Night as an entertainment for this tradition.

All of this role and gender reversal is a source of much confusion, and the actors masterfully act out every nuance and emotion, so, even with Shakespeare’s famously challenging dialogue, the show is highly entertaining and easy to follow. And speaking of dialogue, the actors have no trouble at all with that olden English (partial credit undoubtedly goes to text coach Amy Malcom). There’s a live band that’s part of the play, as musicians are also active participants. With all of that music, knife fighting, and dancing and prancing, it’s an occasional madhouse, but a really-really fun one.  

Highly recommended!