Have appreciated Shakespeare's work for a long time. 'Twelfth Night' was one of my first Shakespeare plays. Actually along with 'Macbeth' it was the play that introduced me to and got me into his plays, through reading the text out loud in English class, while analysing the language as we went along. As a young adult, it's still one of my favourites of his. The story is complicated but lots of fun and charming, it has heart, memorable characters and moments and a lot of quotable lines (including the above).
This Royal Shakespeare Company production of 'Twelfth Night' is good and very entertaining, but falls short of being great or reaching full potential. It's very well acted, looks handsome and a lot of the comedy hits. It is a shame though that one character is changed so much to near insignificance, that some of the production's concept veers on excessive (at worst jarringly so) and that not enough time is devoted on the more emotional elements of the play.
Am going to begin with what doesn't quite come off. While it is great to see Viola expanded and more interesting, it is done so by for example significantly reducing Feste's role and here his presence is almost too random and not necessary. The timing of the songs also feels random and intrusive, which is a shame as Feste's role is actually important. Not all the Victorian references work, the setting works beautifully on the whole but the referencing gets excessive. The coda is overblown with one of the play's most heartfelt moments replaced by a musical scene that comes over as out of place. Antonio's characterisation was somewhat interesting but his text is actually quite specific regarding what sort of character he should be and his portrayal here jars.
Did think too that while the comedy is genuinely witty and funny and beautifully delivered, the more emotional moments are somewhat lost and don't register enough. This is another production of 'Twelfth Night' where Olivia's role feels underwritten, so her predicament doesn't have enough pathos and heart.
On the other hand, the production looks very handsome, elegant and captures the spirit of the Victorian setting it adopts beautifully, despite it at times being at odds with the text. Nigel Hess' contribution to the music is both sublime to listen and lively in pace. While the play's heart could have come out more, the production is far from short changed when it comes to the comedy. Pretty much all of it is laugh out loud funny and sparkling in wit as ought and it just about avoids falling into parody. Sir Toby is especially well done in this regard.
Much of the staging entertains and has a lot of energy, there is even an Oscar Wilde influence at times that doesn't come over as senseless as it appears on paper. The gender reversal for Fabian also made more sense than expected. The production is beautifully performed all round, with Dinita Gohil radiating as Viola and John Hodgkinson was clearly having the time of his life as Sir Toby. Adrian Edmondson's Malvolio is amusing and suitably pathetic without being too much of a fool and Kara Tointon's poised Olivia shows a significant growth in her as an actress.
In conclusion, didn't wow me but good fun. 7/10.
This Royal Shakespeare Company production of 'Twelfth Night' is good and very entertaining, but falls short of being great or reaching full potential. It's very well acted, looks handsome and a lot of the comedy hits. It is a shame though that one character is changed so much to near insignificance, that some of the production's concept veers on excessive (at worst jarringly so) and that not enough time is devoted on the more emotional elements of the play.
Am going to begin with what doesn't quite come off. While it is great to see Viola expanded and more interesting, it is done so by for example significantly reducing Feste's role and here his presence is almost too random and not necessary. The timing of the songs also feels random and intrusive, which is a shame as Feste's role is actually important. Not all the Victorian references work, the setting works beautifully on the whole but the referencing gets excessive. The coda is overblown with one of the play's most heartfelt moments replaced by a musical scene that comes over as out of place. Antonio's characterisation was somewhat interesting but his text is actually quite specific regarding what sort of character he should be and his portrayal here jars.
Did think too that while the comedy is genuinely witty and funny and beautifully delivered, the more emotional moments are somewhat lost and don't register enough. This is another production of 'Twelfth Night' where Olivia's role feels underwritten, so her predicament doesn't have enough pathos and heart.
On the other hand, the production looks very handsome, elegant and captures the spirit of the Victorian setting it adopts beautifully, despite it at times being at odds with the text. Nigel Hess' contribution to the music is both sublime to listen and lively in pace. While the play's heart could have come out more, the production is far from short changed when it comes to the comedy. Pretty much all of it is laugh out loud funny and sparkling in wit as ought and it just about avoids falling into parody. Sir Toby is especially well done in this regard.
Much of the staging entertains and has a lot of energy, there is even an Oscar Wilde influence at times that doesn't come over as senseless as it appears on paper. The gender reversal for Fabian also made more sense than expected. The production is beautifully performed all round, with Dinita Gohil radiating as Viola and John Hodgkinson was clearly having the time of his life as Sir Toby. Adrian Edmondson's Malvolio is amusing and suitably pathetic without being too much of a fool and Kara Tointon's poised Olivia shows a significant growth in her as an actress.
In conclusion, didn't wow me but good fun. 7/10.
