Twelfth Night director explores Shakespeare's retro appeal

Groove is in the heart of Lewis Jones.

It is this self-professed love of the retro era that prompted the award-winning guest director of this year’s USQ Shakespeare in the Park Festival to add a 'nod to the 1960s' to the much-anticipated production of Twelfth Night.

'I was absolutely delighted to be asked to direct Twelfth Night,' Lewis said. 'It is a favourite of mine and one which I consider to be Shakespeare’s funniest and most accessible plays.'

The romantic comedy is the showcase of the 2010 Festival and follows the story of fraternal twins, Viola and Sebastian. Separated in a shipwreck, the twins wash up on the shores of Illyria. Tragedy turns to comedy as they grapple with mistaken identity, unrequited love and some of Shakespeare’s most beloved characters.

'The gags are timeless and appeal to all ages,' Lewis said. 'There is this enormous sexual tension, gender-bending, lust and desire, but with characters who are not what they seem.'

Lewis said he chose to give the play a sixties ambience to signify Shakespeare’s underlying theme of social change.

'The sixties was a time of enormous change that we have not seen since, and this play is all about the changes that the central characters, Viola and Sebastian, experience. The sixties fashions were outlandish and the music unforgettable. It was groovy and sexy, and that’s what I hope to incorporate into this production.'

Lewis is quick to point out that while he has kept Twelfth Night contemporary, he has not imposed a modern interpretation of the Bard’s beloved work.

'Although there are Pucci prints, bright lipsticks, hoop earrings, psychedelic stage designs and sixties music, it is still classic Shakespeare,' he said.

'For Baby Boomers, the look and feel of it will be nostalgic and for the younger generation, it will be a journey of discovery; a tour down retro lane.'

Lewis has directed for La Boite Theatre, Opera Queensland, The Queensland Conservatorium of Music, USQ, The Queensland Performing Arts Centre and The Queensland Music Festival.

Now a regular face on the local theatre scene, Lewis is Artistic Director of The Empire Theatres, for whom he has directed Sweet Charity, Beauty and the Beast, Cabaret and most recently, Singin’ in the Rain.

Twelfth Night will be performed in Queens Park in the newly refurbished Frog’s Hollow on March 4-7 and March 11-13, with proceeds from the March 11 performance going towards RACQ CareFlight Rescue and the Bryan Flemming Family Trust.

Tickets can be purchased through the Empire Theatre Box Office on 1300 655 299, on-line here or at the gate from 6pm each night.

The Festival will also tour to Fraser Coast for a three-day season (March 18-20) on the balmy Seafront Oval in Hervey Bay.
For more information about the Festival, visit this website.