Shakespeare on MLHS stage this weekend

MOSES LAKE - William Shakespeare's comedy of mistaken identities and crazy love, "Twelfth Night," will be reinterpreted with a 1940s vibe by the Moses Lake High School drama club this weekend. The curtain rises at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the high school performing arts center, 803 East Sharon Ave.

Ticket are $5 per person and will be sold at the door only.

The play is a romantic comedy, one of those Shakespeare juggling acts where girls dress as boys, people are presumed dead but aren't, couples are falling in and out of love and it's all one wild tangle.

"It's a little surprise at every turn," said Rhyan Hardwood, the club's publicity chair.

The story starts with a Duke (Bethany Phillips) in love, or so he thinks, but the object of his affections (Jamie Gipson) doesn't want to marry for seven years. He sends his new aide (Allie Mae White) to see if she won't change her mind, but there's a glitch.

The aide is actually a girl dressed like a boy, and the duke has discovered he likes spending time with "him." And the object of his affections likes the new aide, whom she thinks is a boy, too.

In the meantime the aide's twin brother (Brian Bateman), thought to be dead, has turned up, and meets the object of the duke's affections.

There's also a Shakespearean subplot about a practical joke being played on a pompous servant by members of the lady's household, just to mix the story up a little.

Other cast members include Brandi Lake, Jasmine Valdez, Jacklyn Sanchez, James Dempster, Nyelli Garcia, Alycia Sylva, Gillian Reese and Mikayla Ross.

The play was written in 1602.