TWELFTH NIGHT To 16 May.
York.
TWELFTH NIGHT
by William Shakespeare.
Theatre Royal To 16 May 2009.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 2.30pm.
Audio-described 16 May 2.30pm & 7.30pm.
BSL Signed 13 May.
Captioned: 16 May 2.30pm.
Post-show Discussion 14 May.
Runs 2hr 45min One interval.
TICKETS: 01904 623568.
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 9 May.
Production of a comedy that soars when it’s serious.
This production opens terrifically, with a wind-blown sail on which near-drowning Viola is projected swimming underwater. Then the sail flies away, revealing a flute-player whose calm, pleasant music suggest, along with with costumes, an ordered 18th-century world. It’s a fine contrast, the whirling danger and the stable society. Orsino’s opening mood begins the live action, but is given the context of people facing real, physical problems rather than luxuriating in emotional anguish. The clomping steps as the Sea Captain carries Viola onstage reinforces where the real problems are.
Sam Hazeldine’s Orsino combines love-sickness with a sense of action as an Orsino who actually could inspire love in the strong-minded, resourceful Viola. Their later scenes, so often a Twelfth Night’s Cinderella sections, have energy, the emotions direct, the sense of listening and argument vivid. A real relationship’s forming here.
There’s a beach-like, dry colouring to Dawn Allsopp’s attractive, flexible set – its only puzzle the gym-like wall-bars at one side. Jade Anouka’s Olivia, dressed in black throughout, soon discovers a sense of energy. Of the women, only Maria seems stranded, her love for the unadmirable Sir Toby undeveloped.
Comedy comes off least well, apart from Philip D’Orleans’ hilarious duel of the equally fearful Sir Andrew and Cesario. Paul Westwood lets Andrew’s weakness leak out through smart clothing and well-combed hair more luxuriant than the script suggests. And Blair Plant’s Sir Toby shows a due seediness and swagger.
Colm Gormley’s Feste has a nice trick of ending others’ music with a twang and stealing a laugh; the Sir Thopas scene is mercifully brief. But Malvolio, while duly dour, has little of the character’s inner lusts and fury. His first, elongated “Yes” was received in silence, while (an admittedly tough comparison) Derek Jacobi brought the house down with the same word at Wyndhams in the winter.
That measure of comic capability, the letter-reading scene, lacks sparkle and relies overly on unlikely positioning of the eavesdroppers. But there’s more than enough here to raise the hope that Forster will return to this play sometime, somewhere and have the chance to build on what she’s achieved here.
Viola: Danielle King.
Sebastian: Jack Ashton.
Olivia: Jade Anouka.
Orsino: Sam Hazeldine.
Feste: Colm Gormley.
Maria: Jacqueline Wood.
Malvolio: Dick Bradnum.
Fabian: Ian Harris.
Sir Andrew Aguecheek: Paul Westwood.
Sir Toby Belch: Blair Plant.
Curio: Dan Willis.
Antonio/Sea Captain: Mark Theodore.
Director: Juliet Forster.
Designer: Dawn Allsopp.
Lighting: Richard G Jones.
Composer/Musical Director: Christopher Madin.
Voice coach: Susan Stern.
Fight director: Phillip D’Orleans.
2009-05-12 12:42:10