Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer s4

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 10, 2015

CONTACT: Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College [email protected] 603.646.3991

“Mad, wild, loving, and hilarious”: Young UK theater “remixes” Shakespeare

Photo: Filter Theatre’s Twelfth Night, photo courtesy of the artists.

HANOVER, NH—The UK’s brilliant young Filter Theatre brings to the Hop its cleverly condensed and joyfully remixed version of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night—an international hit since its creation nine years ago—on Friday and Saturday, January 15 and 16, 8 pm, in The Moore Theater. The group also offers a workshop on collaborative sound design—a particular strength of Filter productions—for people ages 16 and up.

Shakespeare’s classic farcical story of romance and mistaken identity is combined with Filter’s dynamic narrative drive and a torrent of sound and music to create one of the most entertaining and accessible Shakespeare productions of recent years. On a bare stage littered with instruments and sound equipment, six actors whip in and out of the larger-than-life characters—from independent-minded Olivia to gross Sir Toby Belch to unctuous Malvolio—bursting into song at intervals, accompanied by onstage musicians (and, occasionally, audience members).

Wrote The Times (London), “The most hardhearted purists would melt at Filter’s ninety-minute reworking of this play, directed with passion, panache and precision. This is not a send-up; it's a celebration–mad, wild, loving, and hilarious.” Wrote The Metro (UK), “Filter's lo-fi…remix of Shakespeare's comedy infects the audience with the play's celebratory spirit of madness from the start...You leave feeling slightly changed yourself.” Founded 12 years ago by three friends who met while students at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Filter is one of Great Britain’s “best and boldest” (The Metro, UK) theaters for what is known as “devised work”: original theater created collaboratively by company members. The Daily Telegraph praised the company for “work that dazzles the eye, enchants the ear, and stimulates both the mind and heart.” Along with actors Ferdy Roberts and Oliver Dimsdale (both with extensive credits in film, TV and other British theater), the third founding member is composer/sound designer Tim Phillips; sound and music—from sweet to raucous to downright cacophonic—are integral to each Filter production.

Filter didn’t start taking on the classics until 2006, when it was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company to create a version of Twelfth Night. “We initially put it together in a week–this allowed us to throw it up in the air and make some brave, even crazy decisions,” Roberts told The List (UK). “We cut it, edited it, messed it up and it keeps developing and moving on.”

The show has since been performed throughout the UK and Europe and now is on its first US tour, and Filter has gone on to create its own versions of such other classics as Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Chekhov’s Three Sisters.

Shakespeare is believed to have written Twelfth Night around 1601 as an entertainment for the 12th day of Christmas, a traditional holiday. The plot centers on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Thinking her brother drowned, the disconsolate Viola disguises herself as a boy, “Cesario,” and enters the service of a duke, Orsino, with whom she promptly falls in love. Orsino is in turn is in love with the Countess Olivia, and asks “Cesario” to woo her for him. Upon meeting “Cesario,” however, Olivia falls in love with “him.” While these would-be lovers sort themselves out, the story is further enlivened by the shenanigans of the various members of Olivia’s household: her boozehound uncle, Sir Toby Belch; Sir Toby’s idiotic aristocratic sidekick, Sir Andrew Aguecheek; Olivia’s clever and playful maid and fool, Maria and Feste; and—one of Shakespeare’s most marvelous creations—her steward, Malvolio, whose egotism, pomposity and rage at his aristocratic “superiors” and his own thwarted ambitions expose him to hilarious humiliation.

RELEVANT LINKS http://www.filtertheatre.com https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/filtertheatretwelfthnight https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/filtertheatresounddesign Download high-resolution photos: https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/default.asp? doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=A14ACB33-679C- 469F-9E07-5A08469894E7&sessionlanguage=&SessionSecurity::linkName=

CALENDAR LISTINGS: Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a Filter Theatre Company/Royal Shakespeare Company production This young UK theater’s hilarious and cleverly condensed version of the Bard’s story of romance, satire and mistaken identity is a riot of physical comedy, rowdy music and hurtling plot development. On a bare stage littered with instruments and sound equipment, six actors whip in and out of the larger-than-life characters —from demure Olivia to gross Sir Toby Belch to unctuous Malvolio—bursting into song at intervals, accompanied by onstage musicians. Anarchic, spontaneous and sexy, this “rock-and-roll Shakespeare's a blast” (The Daily Telegraph, UK). Friday and Saturday, January 15 & 16, 8 pm The Moore Theater, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover NH $25/30/35, Dartmouth students $10, 18 and under $17/19 Information: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422 Workshop—Sound It Out: Shakespeare and Sound Design Collaborative sound design and music are central to Filter Theatre’s inventive approach to the Bard. Workshop participants will use voice, amplification, Foley effects and instruments to interpret scenes from Twelfth Night. No experience necessary. Ages 16+. Saturday, January 16, 2-3:30 pm The Moore Theater, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover NH $10 Registration: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422.

Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.