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 Twelfth Night at Chichester Festival Theatre |
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Monday, September 03 2007 @ 12:06 PM BST
Author: Dan. Views: 198
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Perhaps one of Shakespeare's darkest comedies, Twelfth Night takes the audience from sheer farce to the bitter depths of loneliness. And not all the characters see a happy ending.
This is a visually stunning production, with a dramatic set by Leslie Travers; a down-on-its-luck country house, in a very English 'Illyria'. The director Philip Franks says the production is set in 'a poetic version of England, 1919/1920'. It works beautifully; the back wall is a tall, glass conservatory with enough entrances and exits for the finest farce; the floor is covered in a spiral of sand, adding that element of decay. Howard Harrison's lighting design is a perfect period piece too, contributing much to the sense of place and time.
The play is, of course, based on characters taking false identity; Viola (Laura Rees) becomes Cesario, the very image of her lost twin brother Sebastian (Ben Carpenter); Feste the fool (Michael Feast) pretends to be a priest; Malvolio the uptight steward (Patrick Stewart) adopts a ludicrous costume to please his lady. You could even argue that Sir Toby Belch (Paul Shelley) pretends to be Sir Andrew Aguecheek's best friend. But no-one is ever happy in their adopted identity.
There are darker undercurrents to this. Why does Viola, believing her
brother is dead, adopt his identity in the new land of Illyria? As our
nominal hero, she lies, cheats and deceives throughout the play, but
still gets a happy ending, marrying the man she has hidden her true
self from but fallen for none the less, and finding her brother to be
still alive.
It's always a tough role; combining an ambiguous beauty (remember,
people must fall in love with Viola and Cesario) with a darker, meaner
side. Here, Laura Rees plays the role as a period piece, with a certain
1920s flair and a gung-ho dash. I'm not always convinced, particularly
as Rees' diction lets her down a few times tonight - with so many
twists and turns the audience needs to stay on top of the dialogue.
Similarly, Martin Turner is a foppish Orsino, the Duke of Illyria. He
appears to be unsure of his sexuality, which is a very 21st century
take on the script. Again, I'm not entirely convinced, although there's
no fault in Turner's performance.
Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Scott Handy) play the rich
fools well, excelling in the famous 'box hedge' scene (here, played
behind a 20s-style giant umbrella). Throughout, Paul Shelley captures
Belch's nasty, brattish, selfish side - while Scott Handy hints at
Agucheek's loneliness as well.
Suzanne Burden's Maria, an essential addition to the two rich fools in
many scenes, is good, although there are moments when she appears a
little odd. Maria is perhaps best read as a bawdy, riotous character
(she is, after all, the joker who stage-manages Malvolio's destruction
- and has a few cheeky lines too) but for a large part of the
performance she seems quite the opposite, very disapproving of Belch
and Aguecheek. This leaves you wondering why she converts to their
cause so readily later in the play.
In fact, some of the comedy is missed by her performance - for example,
in one scene young Cesario is unsure which of the women in front of him
is the countess Olivia, and which is Maria. Played well, with both
ladies under mourning veils, this scene works well, but in this
production the laughs are missed - as is, with Maria actually unveiled
from the start, the point of the scene.
However, this is a great production - and two cast members in
particular give it the quality it needs. It's too much to say that they
carry the rest of the cast; but they certainly steal the show.
Michael Feast's Feste is a dark, brooding presence throughout the play.
He is - in this production - (like Puck in a Midsummer Night's Dream)
always present, and clearly aware of all that's going on. He is played
here as entertainer rather than fool, and his various songs hint at a
greater knowledge of the various disguises being adopted, and of a
greater understanding of the relationships that are developing around
him, than in any other production I've seen. This adds a beautiful
layer of mystery (and even mischief), both to his character and to the play as a whole. A
wonderful performance.
The second great performance is Patrick Stewart's Malvolio. It's a
masterpiece, the dour, buttoned-up Scottish servant becoming slowly
unravelled by his own arrogance before finally descending into complete
madness.
Interestingly, while Stewart wrenches every laugh from the script that
he can, often reducing the audience to laughter with just a look or a
gesture, he never loses sight of the tragedy of the character. I didn't
find myself once hating Malvolio, and - at the end, when he leaves with
the famous line 'I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you' - I
actually felt I was on his side. He has been frightfully wronged,
driven to the edge of insanity by the rich fools around him, and
deserves some recompense.
And it is Stewart's portrayal of Malvolio (aided by that choice of
setting) that brings another 21st century reading to Twelfth Night.
Perhaps the play is about class, and the fragility of England's class
system. A very modern tale, all in all. |
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Stewart has been short listed for Best Performance in a Play in the prestigious TMA Theatre Awards, which recognise the best in theatre throughout the UK. From over 200 possible contenders, only three can be nominated in each category.
Kate Dickie for National Theatre of Scotland�s Aalst and Barbara Marten for the Royal Exchange, Manchester�s production of Who�s Afraid of Virginia Woolf are competing with Stewart for first place. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony at Hampstead Theatre on Sunday 21st October.
Congratulations to Patrick and the Chichester Festival Company for making it to the shortlist!
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Dan Thompson
RAG