‘TWELFTH NIGHT’ Signed And Spoken

The Philadelphia Inquirer, in its September 23, 2000 edition, reported that ‘The Twelfth Night’ at Prince Music Theater is the first local production cast with Deaf and hearing actors combining American Sign Language and spoken text. But witnessing history is not the only reason a theatergoer might want to attend this unusual production: the reporter writes that “It’s worth going to simply because it is good theater – an evocative and entertaining presentation of Shakespeare’s familiar comedy.” Although new to Philadelphia, this method of presentation has been employed for many years by the National Theatre for the Deaf. Director Novak explains that they spent 18 months translating ‘Twelfth Night’ into ASL. The Deaf actors were: Monique Holt as Maria, Peter Cook as Feste, Dennis Webster as Sir Toby Belch and Alek Fried man as Auguecheek. Jackie Roth also appeared as Olivia “with a recklessness that makes her portrayal especially appealing.”