Shine Darkly, Illyria at McCadden Place Theatre

Using Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as a jumping-off point, Shine Darkly, Illyria is more of a continuation than a sequel. After the multiple weddings and happy ending of Tweflth Night, what happens to the characters next? Illyria is depicted as an island paradise, where inhabitants do reverence to the Moon and revel at nightly moonparties. Love, sex and dancing abound, but no children are ever conceived. Gender boundaries in sex can be rather fluid (Some of Shakespeare's original characters engaged in cross-dressing, after all). The Moon has a favorite in the countess Olivia, and Olivia consumes moon dust as a euphoric substance. When The Moon attempts to warn Olivia of an upcoming ecological disaster brought on by humanity's environmental neglect, Olivia does not listen. Lovers are in conflict, and hearts are broken. Can they be mended? Nature hands the Illyrians an ultimatum: Evolve or die. Can they escape the fury of the elements?