When you’re working on a virtually non-existent budget, you have to be pretty sharp with things. Though our costumed tag-team staged reading series this summer did cast more actors than we’d need (as well as the upcoming audio book and act-along-karoke versions), not all actors are available for the show this season. In case we don’t have a Toby, we might just cut out his few lines of “letcherie” in Twelfth Night, Act 1 Scene 5. We’ll just have a silent actor “step in” while appearing “drunk” and collapse. The skip will start from after Olivia’s “By mine honor half drunk” and end at “Toby’s Well, it’s all one (inclusive)”, to omit Toby’s voice parts and yet appear seamless. Olivia and Feste can still have their little aside on drunkenness, and Feste can still leave escorting Toby out. (In which case, Feste’s voice will likely also be the voice for Toby.)

Tags: !Twelfth Night, cuts, drunkenness, feste, letcherie, Olivia, prompt-book, Toby