Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, Midsommer Flight, 2021

An immersive production of Twelfth Night staged in the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Directed by Kristina McCloskey.

Praise for Twelfth Night

“Everything, from the friendliness of the actors to the play’s DIY aesthetic, creates a welcoming environment which makes the production’s material and novel concept accessible. The cast steers away from overindulgently delivered verse and speaks Shakespeare’s words with the comfortable, casual cadences of 21st century English—even ad-libbing conversations with audience members as we walked from room to room.

By far, though, the most understated and brilliant part of the production is the radical way it addresses gender. With a woman disguised as a man as the beating heart of its romantic plot, Twelfth Night is probably one of Shakespeare’s queerest scripts to begin with. And Midsommer Flight’s production takes this several glorious steps further. To begin with, the production features a talented cast made up of mostly queer and nonbinary actors of various gender presentations.

Between Shakespeare’s gender bending plot, the actors’ varied gender presentations, and Midsommer Flight’s choice to change the pronouns of characters, gender—once a crucial part of the script—becomes too difficult to follow. Rather than being able to watch a play about mistaken gender, the audience is forced to think about Twelfth Night as a play about mistaken identity.

With its vibrant, immersive production, Midsommer Flight does more than just breathe life into a script: it breathes life into a city. The production removes the literal and figurative distance between Shaksespeare’s characters and the audience, filling all four showrooms of the Lincoln Park conservatory with camaraderie, laughter, and music. As the Chicago days get colder, the ensemble-driven production is a one-way ticket to sunny, verdant Illyria, where the plants are always green, the locals are always welcoming, and the streets are always filled with music.”

Talkin’ Broadway, Christine Malcom

“The show itself begins with a shanty that summons the audience to the path running along the west side of the Palm Room. Each member of the company then introduces themselves, complete with their own pronouns, as well as the character or characters they play and their pronouns. In the best possible way, the move is silly and educational. It ably reflects and serves Midsommer's commitment not just to diversity in casting, but to true accessibility and inclusion in works that definitely bear the stamp of their age, and it further prepares the audience for the hilarity and chaos at the heart of the play's humor…McCloskey's adaptation begins with the shipwreck that separates Viola and Sebastian. As the twins embark on their distinct journeys through Illyria, the audience breaks into clusters as they will, as they decide which invitations they will accept to follow which characters. These loosely guided journeys are rather chaotic, to be sure, but collaboration between the actors and stage managers keep things moving smoothly, and any stumbles simply add to the warm, participatory feel.”

Chicago Reader, Marissa Oberlander

“…the production’s gender-blind casting is intentional and deserving of praise for highlighting actor and character pronouns right out of the gate…[and the casting] also deftly reveals and subverts any stale, internalized gender biases through which we view Shakespeare’s plot points and relationships.”

Photography below by Tom McGrath