By Pax Ressler
“This is one of the reasons that exploring Viola’s identity as gender non-binary in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night felt rich and expansive. In the play, shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as a man—essentially, to get a job. As a woman, she doesn’t have access to social standing without working in a court, and the only position available is as a gentleman of Duke Orsino’s court. But what would happen if Viola’s decision to disguise herself wasn’t just out of necessity, but out of a genuine desire to alter her gender presentation in a new land where no one knows her? This is a question that director Jack Tamburri and I set out to explore in our glam-rock production of the play.
What we found was unconventional. We discovered that our main character chooses to be called Vi and uses the pronouns ze/zir. While the traditional comedy ends with the promise that all gender will once again default to the binary, our production challenges that notion and allows Vi to live as zir genderful self. We chose to make changes to Shakespeare’s text to allow for Vi’s autonomy, so ze can present however ze chooses.”