“Twelfth Night or, What You Will” Highlights Our Humanity—at The Public
Moses Sumney (Feste) in the Free Shakespeare in the Park “Twelfth Night.” Photos: Joan Marcus
Shakespeare in the Park Returns, Joyfully & Inclusively, to New York
by Andrea Libresco
As the performance begins, multiple helicopters fly over the Delacorte Theater. While not a part of the production, the reminder of the creeping police state seems appropriate in this play with an immigrant woman as hero.
The production carries us from the need to conceal oneself to the pleasure of being oneself, leaning in joyfully to the “What You Will” part of the title. Indeed, the message is emblazoned downstage in larger-than-life letters, a balm in a time of restrictions on our identities as Americans, as human beings.
Director Saheem Ali brings out the harrowing nature of being an immigrant. Viola (splendid Lupita Nyong’o) and her brother Sebastian (Junior Nyong’o, Lupita’s real-life brother!) are immigrants to Illyria.
Sandra Oh (Olivia) & Lupita Nyong’o (Viola)
Viola needs to be wary, in disguise, and serve others, even though she comes from a prominent family. She must re-name herself, code-switch, and adapt, as she seeks to survive and potentially thrive, a stranger in a strange land. Viola also carries the grief of missing her beloved brother from whom she has been separated, perhaps forever.
The siblings sometimes communicate in their native tongue rather than English, reminding us that, in addition to all the accommodations the newly arrived must make, they must make them in an alien tongue. Not for nothing do award-winning immigration historians name their books The Uprooted, The Transplanted, and The Anguish of Becoming American.
The status of the immigrant is not the only fraught identity in the world of Illyria and our multicultural democracy. Gender-bending is front and center in the language and plot of “Twelfth Night.”
Khris Davis (Orsino) & his buddies
Duke Orsino (entertaining Khris Davis) works out, expressing his over-the-top manliness, and forcing his courtiers to perform push-ups as punishment. Viola, disguised as Cesario, comically manspreads, highlighting the freedom that comes from her gender switch. The actors milk the comedy, even as they make us think about masculinity in all its contradictions.
Olivia (delightfully playful Sandra Oh) wonders, “What manner of man” Viola/Cesario might be. When Viola as Cesario is forced into fighting with Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Jesse Tyler Ferguson in his best scene), both the woman playing the man and the actual man struggle to avoid stereotypical male aggression.
When Viola finally kisses Orsino, rather than changing to conventionally feminine clothing, she keeps her men’s garb. Indeed, the costumes support gender fluidity: the men’s coats make their outfits look a lot like dresses. When all is resolved and the dance party commences, everyone except the puritanical Malvolio (sympathetic Peter Dinklage) is there; the women wear pants with skirts over them, and the men reveal themselves as drag queens.
Peter Dinklage (Malvolio)
Lest anyone think that these serious immigrant or gender identity issues overpower the comedy and joy, rest assured; the production begins and ends with music; main characters and ensemble members mine the humor in their parts, enjoying their freedom, as does the audience.
After a season away for reconstruction, The Public Theater’s new production has created “a platform for democracy. A gathering place. A celebration of what a public space can be when it’s shaped by values we all share: access, community, inclusion, and joy.”
Play on, Delacorte! Play on, Democracy!
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Andrew Aguecheek), John Ellison Conlee (Sir Toby Belch), & Lupita Nyong’o (Viola)
“Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare, directed by Saheem Ali, scenic design by Maruti Evans, costumes by Oana Botez, lighting by Bradley King, music by Michael Thurber, Shakespeare in the Park, at The Revitalized Delacorte Theater, by The Public Theater, New York.
Info: publictheater.org – to September 14, 2025.
Cast: Dario Alvarez (Ensemble), b (Antonio), John Ellison Conlee (Sir Toby Belch), Khris Davis (Orsino), Peter Dinklage (Malvolio), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Andrew Aguecheek), Jaina Rose Jallow (Ensemble), Ariyan Kassam (Curio/Ensemble), Valentino Musumeci (Ensemble),
Junior Nyong’o (Sebastian), Lupita Nyong’o (Viola), Chinna Palmer (Ensemble), Sandra Oh (Olivia), Precious Omigie (Ensemble), Nathan M. Ramsey (Ensemble), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Maria), Jasmine Sharma (Ensemble), Moses Sumney (Feste),
Kapil Talwakar (Ensemble), Joe Tapper (Sea Captain/Priest), Julian Tushabe (Ensemble), Adrian Villegas (Ensemble), Ada Westfall (Ensemble), and Mia Wurgaft (Ensemble).