All Bodies Are Shakespeare Bodies - “An Afrofuturistic Twelfth Night”

For too long, marginalized groups of people have been excluded from the theater industry, and more specifically the world of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays are often conceptualized through a Euro-centric, hetero-cis-normative, and abled-bodied lens, therefore people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and disabled people believe there is no place for them in Shakespeare’s work. However, that is simply not true; all bodies are Shakespeare bodies. Throughout this series of articles, YES will bring attention to examples of Shakespeare productions that showcase people of all races, nationalities, genders, creeds, and abilities, with the purpose of disproving the exclusionary misconception that only a select few can or should do Shakespeare. To kick off this series, our first article discusses the Yale Repertory Theater’s production of Twelfth Night directed by Carl Cofield.

A refresher of Twelfth Night’s plot: After surviving a shipwreck, Viola is separated from her twin brother Sebastian, who she believes died when their ship sank. However, unbeknownst to each other, both eventually find their way to Illyria. First, Viola washes up on the shores of the strange new land and decides to disguise herself as a man named Cesario. Cesario seeks employment with Duke Orsino who asks Cesario to court the mourning Olivia on his behalf. Hijinks ensue when Olivia becomes infatuated with Cesario– believing him to be a man–, Viola (Cesario) falls in love with Orsino, and Orsino pursues Oliva’s love through his page, Cesario. Of course, at this time, Sebastian wanders onto Illyria’s shores after being rescued by a pirate named Antonio. Sebastian is confused for Cesario and ends up in a duel with Oliva’s drunk uncle, Sir Toby Belch, and his friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek. All the while, Olivia’s servant, Maria, her fool, Feste, her uncle, and her uncle’s friend devise a plan to humiliate Olivia’s stewart Malvolio, who is also in love with Oliva and believes Oliva to be in love with him. The play ends in identities revealed, love matched, and siblings reunited. It is a fun time all around (if you can keep everything straight)!

William DeMeritt in TWELFTH NIGHT. Photo © Joan Marcus, 2019.

Carl Cofield's production of Twelfth Night increased the excitement of Shakespeare's story by creating a unique, Afrofuturistic version of Illyria. In this world, Feste rode around on an electric scooter singing slow jams, lightsabers replaced swords in fight scenes, and there was an abundance of futuristic technology, including laser light shows complementing exciting dance numbers. What’s not to love?

You may be wondering, “Ok, but what does Afrofutristic mean? What is Afrofuturism?”As defined by Wikipedia, “Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science and philosophy of history that explores the developing intersection of African diaspora culture with technology.” But if you ask Afrofuturist Ingrid LaFleur, it’s “a way of imagining possible futures through a black cultural lens.” Afrofuturist art often imagines worlds in which black people do not have to worry about their race placing them lower in status to white people. The worlds are prosperous, technologically advanced, and influenced by African heritage and artistry. One popular example of Afrofuturism is the 2018 Marvel movie Black Panther set in the fictional nation of Wakanda, a place hidden from the rest of the world. Wakanda is spared from colonization, and as a result, is the most advanced nation in the Marvel universe. Similar to Wakanda, Cofield’s Twelfth Night world incorporates holograms, virtual reality goggles, and most importantly, a predominantly black cast full of “different hues of people,” “different complexions,” and “different body types” (FitzMaurice).

In an interview with dramaturg Molly FitzMaurice, Cofield shares his motivation for creating and sharing Shakespeare’s work in new, accessible, and innovative ways, saying that he was inspired by his early experience with Shakespeare. Cofield describes how he was initially put off by Shakespeare’s work because of the lack of representation: “I didn’t think there would be a part for a young, black man in the canon. … I would leave Shakespeare alone because Shakespeare had left me alone.” (FitzMaurice) He knows that many people, specifically young people of color, share his past sentiments about Shakespeare. Because of this, Cofield expresses that “[i]t’s vitally important for [him], as an artist of color, to have the next young theater-maker be in the audience…” (FitzMaurice). The members of YES could not agree more.

My theatre class at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School in New Haven, Connecticut is mostly students of color. When we heard we were going to see Twelfth Night, the days leading up to the show were filled with students lamenting how much they did not want to go. Frankly, Shakespeare’s work bored us all to tears. So, one could imagine our surprise when we were left in silent awe from the very first scene of Cofield’s Twelfth Night to the very last. It was refreshing, and the exact antithesis of everything we thought Shakespeare could be!

As young BIPOC actors, we were taught that Shakespeare would be an inescapable part of our careers. What we heard was that the guys would be expected to grin and bear it as they either played roles written for white people, or jump at the chance to play Othello, Bottom, or Caliban. As for the girls, well, we really only had the first option of playing white characters. However, after seeing Cofield’s Twelfth Night, my class and I realized something we might not have otherwise: Shakespeare’s characters did not have to be white! Sure, we had seen them portrayed by white actors 99.99% of the time in the past, but this proved that there was another way; that there was nothing stopping us from playing these characters too! As Cofield’s teacher said to him “there [is not] just one role for [us]– but the possibility of many roles.” (FitzMaurice)

Tiffany Denise Hobbs and Moses Ingram in TWELFTH NIGHT. Photo © Joan Marcus, 2019.

Cofield’s Twelfth Night opened our eyes to what Shakespeare’s work could look like. After that day, no one could tell me there was no place for a black woman in Shakespeare’s worlds. Not after seeing a black woman play Viola {Moses Ingram}, a character who thrived in a strange land with nothing but “her will, her courage, and her wit.” Not after seeing Olivia {Tiffany Denise Hobbes} as “a beautifully eloquent black woman with dreadlocks” (FitzMaurice).

Carl Cofield seems to have had a vested interest in reaching out specifically to young audience members like YES and my class at Co-op because he initially viewed Shakespeare the same way we did; with a “phobia that it had to be done British; it had to be stodgy.” (FitzMaurice) Eventually–and luckily for the Yale Repertory Theater and everyone who got to see the show– Cofield realized that this “stodgy” version was the way it had been, not the way it had to be. He saw that Shakespeare was meant to be performed “for the people, with the audience of the time in mind”, recognized that today’s audiences are more diverse than ever before, and therefore created a version of Twelfth Night that represented today’s audience.

Cofield’s “biggest hope” is that young artists will see a new way of approaching Shakespeare’s work and ask “...if it could be done that way, what’s to stop the next thing from being done even bolder?” (FitzMaurice) To Carl Cofield YES says, thank you, and we are not only asking that question, but acting upon it. We, the youth of today and the artists of tomorrow, want to see, create, and “...reinvestigate classics through a more inclusive and multicultural lens” as “...the norm and not the exception.” (FitzMaurice)

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A Taste of The Next All Bodies Are Shakespeare Bodies Article

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