Live music sets the scene in new production of Twelfth Night

Peterborough actor Jason Shulha plays Orsino and delivers the opening lines in the Electric City Players’ new production of Twelfth Night. Languishing in his longing for the Countess Olivia, he asks for a little music to soothe him. “If music be the food of love, play on,” he demands. 

Behind him, a live band performs, its vocalist singing a soft, soulful tune. Orsino is stretched out on a wooden bench, his hand at his forehead as he sighs deeply. “Enough; no more,” he cries, and the music abruptly stops. 

“Tis not so sweet now as it was before,” Orsino laments, continuing to spiral in his thoughts as he waits for a message from the deeply disinterested Olivia.

The band remains onstage throughout the production, complementing the actors’ performances with live renditions of songs by artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Radiohead, and Mazzy Star.

Bringing modern music into the production is one of the ways directors Andrew Loeb and Jacqueline Barrow put their own unique spin on the classic Elizabethan-era play. Twelfth Night will run from tonight, Thursday, January 30, to Saturday, February 1, at the Market Hall.

“It’s a really cool way to prove to people how we can modernize Shakespeare,” Barrow said. “We can mold it and fit it to work for a modern audience.”

“Part of the entertainment of the show is going to be watching the band play,” she added. “You’re going to both a play and to a concert, in some ways.”

The Electric City Players’ inaugural play was Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and for that show Loeb produced a full score of background music and visual projections to go with it. This time, the show’s music was a much more collaborative endeavour.

Loeb said incorporating creative input from the band, the actors, and Trent University student contributors required a lot more coordination, but it was worth it. “The tradeoff is that we get this extraordinary kind of energy in the show that wasn’t there before,” he said.

Twelfth Night’s band includes vocalist Shelby Crawford, guitarist Jeremy Kirkland, pianist Maya Raval, drummer Calvin Bakelaar and Liam Parker on bass guitar. 

“I love Shakespeare. I love theatre, but I love music more. So when I heard this was happening, my heart just melted,” Crawford said. She noted that this is her first time singing for an audience. Loeb reached out to her after seeing some videos she had posted of herself singing on Instagram.

Crawford said that audiences should pay close attention to the lyrics of the music, as each song was intentionally chosen and timed to bring out the meaning and emotion of the play’s corresponding scene.

The directors noted that focusing on music to set the tone for this play was a natural choice, as the original script of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is very musical. The characters themselves sometimes burst into song, spouting sea shanties or messy drunken melodies.

Loeb said one of his favourite songs in the show is called Come Away Death, and it was written into the original play back in the early 1600s. He worked with Trent students to create a modern jazz arrangement based on the historical melody. 

The Electric City Players’ version of Come Away Death is played by the pianist and vocalist in a call and response style. “There’s no metronome going. They just sort of react to each other,” Loeb said. “It changes according to the energy of the room in this way that really only live music can capture.”

“Whenever I’ve seen Twelfth Night done in the past, it’s been so funny. It’s been so silly and goofy, and kind of spinning that and pointing out all of the moments of true depth and vulnerability make this performance particularly unique,” said Carissa Kaye, who plays Countess Olivia.

“I think by adding live music, we’re very much saying, hey this is relevant,” Kaye added. “This is topical. This is something that we can all connect to and relate to.”

Tickets to Twelfth Night are available at the Market Hall website.