The 1925 Production
The Dartmouth Players performed their last all-male show the first weekend in May, 1925. Twelfth Night is a play about a pair of twins, Sebastian and Viola, separated in a shipwreck. In search of her brother, Viola dresses up as a man named Cesario and joins the service of the Duke Orsino, with whom she falls in love. Meanwhile, Orsino is attempting to court Olivia, and Olivia is falling in love with Viola-as-Cesario. Regardless of the actors’ genders, the structure of this love triangle has queer implications. (Of course, Twelfth Night does end in two heterosexual marriages - Olivia to Sebastian and Viola, now dressed as a woman, to Orsino - but most of the plot hinges on the love triangle.)
The Players’ 1925 version of Twelfth Night was unique in that it featured a pair of real-life twins, Harold and Herman Trefethen, as Viola and Sebastian respectively.
The Dartmouth announces the 1925 production
The 1925 production of Twelfth Night ran from April 30 to May 2. An article in The Dartmouth on April 30 announced the upcoming show.
"Olivia's Garden"
The stage and set used in the 1925 production are a fairly minimalist take on the garden of Olivia, one of the two lead female characters.
Program for 1925 production of Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night was the last show the Dartmouth Players put on before the end of female impersonation at Dartmouth. As such, all of the roles were played by male actors.