I must confess that I was really unaware of the complexity of the role of Feste in Twelfth Night when I got the part. I was mainly attracted to the character for the fact that he could be successfully played by an older actor and that there was a need for someone who would be comfortable both acting and singing on stage.

As I’ve worked through studying the character, his arc and his relationship with the other characters in the world of the play have engendered a lot of thought. Feste is not a villain but his taunting of Malvolio in Act 4 Scene 2 borders on malicious. It appears that Maria and Sir Toby lose their stomach for the sport after hearing Feste (masquerading as the curate Sir Topas) and Malvolio’s conversation. And yet Feste goes back to taunt Malvolio further after Toby and Maria depart. After agreeing to help Malvolio, Feste wraps the scene with a song that starts with fairly light imagery but then ends with “Farewell, good man, devil.”

A skilled actor playing Malvolio can really do a lot to challenge the audience’s perceptions during the play. We start by being irritated at Malvolio’s pride and machinations to become head of Olivia’s household, then laugh in glee as he acts on the false letter left for him and cheer as he gets his comeuppance. Yet there is no comedy in any of Malvolio’s lines in A4S2, and played with enough pathos all we hear is Malvolio’s pain and confusion.

And what is Feste’s part in this? His place or status in Olivia’s is not threatened to the same degree as Maria and Toby. During A1S5 when Malvolio speaks against Feste, Olivia is quick to brush him off. Malvolio’s threats against Maria and Toby are far more credible, yet even they tire of making sport of Malvolio. But Feste is still up for it, continuing to make statements about Malvolio’s madness all the way to the end of the play until Malvolio is able to speak for himself, all because of the slight Feste suffers in A1S5.

Monday we rehearsed A4S2 and I was really proud that my director had almost no notes for either me or the actor playing Malvolio. We were quickly able to work out both how she was going to get on stage and how she was going to get off given that we are going to have a minimal production and so no prison for Malvolio to be locked in.

Also as Feste I am responsible for arranging all the songs sung in the play. We had a musical discussion scheduled this evening but had to cancel. I have some general ideas about how to stage things and the director has been happy with everything she’s heard thus far. The number one thing I’ve been struggling with is “Come Away Death,” the song sung by Feste for Duke Orsino. We currently want to stage it as a way for Feste to lampoon Orsino for his melancholic ways, and so I’ve been tossing around a number of different musical styles. The meter of the lyrics is challenging as well. It has traditionally been arranged in 3/2 time, which is great if you’re trying to do a traditional Elizabethan folk song but not so great if you’re trying to do something more modern. I’m hoping to run a couple ideas past my director Saturday.