What You Will: a Twelfth Night Adaptation

Abstract

For my Senior Honors Project in ECU’s Honors College, I have adapted and directed Twelfth Night, cut down to only the sub-plot of Antonio and Sebastian, and titled it What You Will (Shakespeare’s alternate title for Twelfth Night). This adapted version of this play will shed light on the often forgotten tragic character of Antonio, whose only downfall was loving someone who didn’t love him back. This story is something that everyone has experienced in one way or another, whether it is your cat not wanting to be near you, your middle school crush not giving you the time of day, or watching the person you love marry someone else. Because unrequited love is something all audience members will be able to relate to, I wanted to highlight this sub-plot without all the distraction of the main characters. The main characters are still part of the adapted script, but their main function is to highlight the tragedy of Antonio’s story.