The Montauk Library will present “Twelfth Night: A Stroll Through Shakespeare’s Illyria” on Sunday, December 11, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. The program will be led by guest artist Josh Gladstone who will be joined by his wife, Kate Mueth, as they present a robust and immersive examination of the timeless text of this play. Audience participation is encouraged and participants are guaranteed a laugh and will come away with a richer understanding after the 90-minute jaunt together through magical Illyria.
About “Twelfth Night,” Gladstone writes, “Who is he? He’s a she? Can she love thee? Hey, what about me? O yellow cross gartered madness unfolds, unravels and abounds in this most delicious of Shakespeare’s masterpiece comedies — a play designed to unleash ribald fun, romance and zesty hysteria — and the gender identities questioned couldn’t be more pertinent today. Ending as all good comedies do in marriage, the road to happiness is fraught with rejection, duplicity, disguises and moments of sublime grace touching on the timeless themes of compassion, forgiveness and the bittersweet, gorgeous transience of life and love in the world.”
Gladstone, co-founder of the Hamptons Shakespeare Festival, was the longtime artistic director at Guild Hall’s John Drew Theater and is the new associate producer of the Hamptons Festival of Music.
Kate Mueth is the founder of the East End-based nonprofit Neo-Political Cowgirls to address the dearth of performance and production opportunities and stories by and about women on the theater landscape. She conceives, choreographs and directs new, site-specific dance theater.
“Twelfth Night: A Stroll Through Shakespeare’s Illyria” is free and open to the public. Montauk Library is at 871 Montauk Highway. Montauk. To register, contact 631-668-3377 or montauklibrary.org/events.