TWELFTH NIGHT. To 10 May.
Hornchurch.
TWELFTH NIGHT
by William Shakespeare.
Queen’s Theatre To 10 May 2008.
Tue-Sat 8pm Mat 1, 10 May 2.30pm
Audio-described 10 May 2.30pm.
BSL Signed 7 May.
Captioned 30 April.
Runs 2hr 30min One interval.
TICKETS: 01708 443333.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 21 April.
Light, bright, frisky Night.
Set on a 1920s liner, with a script that chops (a fair amount) and changes (a little) of Shakespeare’s script, while adding several period songs, this is director’s theatre. Director Bob Carlton might add that his production is directed straight at the Queen’s audience, ever up for a song, dance and a bit of drama.
The play’s thematic voyage is charted in two Cole Porter numbers brought on board; from “What is this thing Called Love” to “Let’s Do It”. Like the elegant vessel with which designer Mark Walters fills the stage, Carlton’s production doesn’t cut deep into the dark undercurrents of Shakespeare’s comedy. But the story, and the laughs, are there.
Nobody should take themselves too seriously here. The black-garbed Olivia has a sexy slit in her skirt, and is open to a smile once Feste has tickled her funny-bone, even on the sensitive subject of her bereavement.
Claire Storey, one of the show’s platinum blondes, carries off this double-mood, beside which Paul Leonard’s Malvolio, his face a joyless granite promontory, is clearly riding for a fall. The outrageous garb into which he’s lured is rather subdued but little’s needed beside Leonard’s attempt to compress his face into the foreign territory of a smile. He’s back in Steward’s dress by the end, but his enemies have photographed him in ridiculous mode and we’ve seen him climb dirty from a prison-hold.
Thankfully Sir Thopas is excised; one of Shakespeare’s less durable jokes who delays things just as an ending’s in sight. This makes room for a neat promenade (leisurely cousin to a chase) of characters where Sir Toby first sees both twins, and blames the drink.
There are showy touches, Viola arriving in a stormy silent-cinema melodrama with comic captions, neat devices like Sir Toby tipping Feste with money filched from the sleeping Sir Andrew’s pockets (Oliver Beamish, delightfully Woosterish, to his Jeevesian pick-me-up), or Feste watching Malvolio cheek-by-jowl as all is revealed. And Georgina Field is a Maria whose dancing should assure her of a job on any luxury cruise, or a marriage to someone worthier than Sir Toby.
Sir Andrew Aguecheek: Oliver Beamish.
Captain: Matt Devereaux.
Maria: Georgina Field.
Viola: Karen Fisher-Pollard.
Feste: Simon Jessop.
Sebastian: Nick Lashbrook.
Malvolio: Paul Leonard.
Orsino: Jonathan Markwood.
Sir Toby Belch: Stuart Organ.
Antonio: Steve Simmonds.
Olivia: Claire Storey.
Valentine: Rowan Talbot.
Director: Bob Carlton.
Designer: Mark Walters.
Lighting: Richard Godin.
Sound: Ed Clarke.
Musical Director: Julian Littman.
Choreographer: Liz Marsh.
2008-04-22 17:25:05