Twelfth Night or What You Will-even the title invites multiple interpretations. Brandeis' Hold Thy Peace acting troupe stuck to this notion Thursday night with a production of the William Shakespeare comedy, a tale of mistaken identities and truth revealing deception. The ensemble offered a twist that promised extremely creative entertainment, transplanting the play-originally set in continental Europe-to modern-day Hollywood. Unfortunately, it fell an inch short of expectations. Although some individual performances were strong, more could have been done with the form and theme of this timeless comedy. In the original play, Viola (Leila Alciere '09) and her brother Sebastian (Vicki Schairer '09) are separated after being shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria (now Albania). Viola cross-dresses to be closer to Orsino (Erik Potter '07), with whom she is smitten. Orsino, however, is in love with a mourning actress, Lady Olivia (Kate Roller '09), who believes Viola is the male Cesario, and in turn falls in love with her. Throughout the play, Sir Toby (Adam Ross '07) and others orchestrate a prank against Malvolio (Brenda Green-Sisson '09), Olivia's servant, by leading him to believe that she is in love with him.

Modernizing Shakespearian classics is a very popular practice, as the opportunities for creative genius abound when adapting time and setting. This play made only a few references to its surroundings and missed great opportunities in interpretation. Malvolio, upon being pronounced insane, was sentenced to the very Elizabethan punishment of a dark dungeon jail-the modern Hollywood solution, a mental hospital, alongside the likes of Mary-Kate Olsen, might have worked better. The mannerisms, accents, interpretation of words and even some costumes of the characters could have been more modern as well, which would have added to the believability of the play's new setting.

Overall, the actors themselves proved very promising. Alciere, Roller and fellow first-year Aaron Finegold have obviously come to Brandeis with theater experience, and they should only grow in skill while here. Roller's Olivia was strong and funny, and she has a great deal of experience in musicals. This was apparent in her acting style, and it would be interesting to see her performing in that genre. Finegold's Sir Andrew Aguecheek is the classic comedic character, and Finegold had the appropriate charm for the part, winning over the audience from his first overstylized bow.

On the other hand, Potter's Orsino was uncomfortably overstated-he was the only actor forcing an Elizabethan accent. Sadly, he often spoke with his eyes closed, and as such, seemed forced and not relatable.

The double danger of Twelfth Night is that both comedy and Shakespeare often lend themselves to amateurish overacting. In the intimate theater-almost-in-the-round that is the Schwartz Auditorium, wide-eyed emotion is conveyed loudly. The line between acting naturally and acting like you are acting is hard to distinguish when trying to speak in Shakespearian English. Many actors avoided this trap, especially Beth Seltzer '07 and Chavah Levine '06, whose mastery of the language stood out in their portrayals.

It is only through the playbook that the audience learned that Olivia, Orsino and Antonio were supposed to be "movie stars"; the clown Feste, a tabloid reporter; Toby, Olivia's publicist; and Malvolio, her manager. But none of these facts were apparent on stage-including them in the playbook only made the audience more aware of their absence.

Despite my overall desire for more cohesiveness of theme, there were entertaining moments. Great instances of absurdity popped up often, many delivered with the natural talent and physical comedy of Finegold and the impressive timing of Seltzer's Feste. The duels were designed as fist fights with oversized boxing gloves instead of swords, and the garden scenes found Toby, Fabian and Andrew hiding behind potted plants. Both these instances of silliness were hilarious and well-received by the small audience. It was unclear why the Priest (Elyssa Kanet '09) was dressed as Elvis Presley in his Las Vegas years, but this anachronism's absurdity was greatly welcomed by the audience.

Still, Hold Thy Piece produced the comedy as it was meant to be: fanciful and improbable. The character Fabian (Levine) seemed to sum it up best: "If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction!"

Editor's note: Aaron Finegold '09 is a member of the advertising staff of the Justice.