Watch footage of 17-year-old Orson Welles and his 1933 production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Here’s an incredibly cool video that offers a never-before-seen piece of cinematic history. This video features footage of a 17-year-old’s dress rehearsal Orson Welles AND Roger “Skipper” Hill’the scaled-down production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

This happened way back in 1933, while Welles was a student at the Todd School for Boys in Woodstock, Illinois. The play he staged won first prize at the Chicago Drama Festival in 1933. The footage is copyrighted by Hill’s nephew, Todd Tarbox, and was shared on YouTube with his permission.

There is ten minutes of color footage and the sound has been digitized. Tarbox told Wellesnet: “My father, Hascy, was cast as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and my mother, Joanne, played Viola. This production won first prize at the 1933 Chicago Drama Festival and was later performed at the 1933 World’s Fair, A Century of Progress Exposition.

The video features Welles’ narration, costumes and set design, and is also featured in the footage. Watching it is like taking a step back in time where we get to see one of the most iconic directors in history honing his craft as a young teenager.