Twelfth Night “in the Parking Lot”

For the past 28 years, parking lots in the Lower East Side have been stages for Shakespeare plays produced by The Drilling Company. This year its “home” lot is a construction site, so the troupe is doing Twelfth Night in a schoolyard at the intersection of Rivington and Norfolk Streets.

Shakespeare’s deliciously gender-fluid comedy lends itself well to a mix of Elizabethan and modern music (“the food of love”) and present-day costuming. A seersucker jacket and greasepaint mustache turn Lizabeth Allen into Sir Andrew. A red toque and white jacket are enough for Kiara Ruth Luna to be Fabian the chef. And identical shirts, shorts, sneakers, and hats make it easy for the clueless characters to mistake Viola disguised as Cesario (Mary Linehan), for her twin brother Sebastian (Guido Gatmaytan).

Guido Gatmaytan as Sebastian (left) and Mary Linehan as Viola (right) calling herself Cesario

The uptight steward Malvolio (Emanuel Elpenord) first appears in a snug black suit and tie. But when he’s gulled into wearing yellow hose “cross-gartered” (see the opening photo), he goes mincing and twerking in tights, shorts, and a flamboyant red wig, trying to woo—but actually shocking—his employer Olivia. 

With little or no need to change clothes, John Patrick Hart as the lovesick Orsino; Ivory Aquino as Olivia, who’s “addicted to melancholy;” Hamilton Clancy as her drunkard cousin Sir Toby Belch; and Colleen Cosgrove as her scheming maid Maria, all hold their own beautifully. Shoutout to Robert Arcaro in the small but beefy role of Sebastian’s friend, the Captain. And a hearty cheer to loose-limbed Andy Rowell as the fool Feste, whose antics are, well, antic, but whose speeches deliver Shakespeare’s truths.

Andy Rowell as Feste, the Fool

The program credits Natalie Smith for original songs, and Hamilton Clancy as “designer,” presumably of the set and lighting. The audience sits around a square green carpet furnished with a small bench, and an antique-y armchair. Banks of lights are on tall stands, one of them atop a parked car (which will come to serve a purpose, but I won’t say how). 

Clancy is also the play’s director, the founder of The Drilling Company, and currently its artistic director, too. Over 29 years, his work and his troupe have inspired “parking lot” productions around the U.S. and the world.

Admission is free. Take the F, M or J train to the Delancy St.-Essex St. stop, and enter the schoolyard on Suffolk St. between Rivington and Stanton Sts., to catch the final performances of Twelfth Night, at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday August 1, 2 and 3. The running time is close to 2-1/2 hours, with no intermission.

Top: Ivory Aquino as Olivia and Emanuel Elpenord as Malvolio

Performance photos by Jonathan Slaff

For more information go to the website for The Drilling Company