TWELFTH NIGHT. To 31 August.
Chichester
TWELFTH NIGHT
by William Shakespeare
Chichester Festival Theatre In rep to 31 August 2007
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 4, 8, 15, 25, 29 August 2pm
Audio-described 3 Aug, 4 Aug 2pm, 15 Aug 2pm, 17 Aug
BSL Signed 8 Aug 7.30pm
Runs 2hr 50min One interval
TICKETS: 01243 781312
www.cft.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 21 July
Fun for summer with thoughtful undertow.
It might have been written for an Elizabethan Christmas, but Shakespeare’s comedy comes across well in Philip Franks’ production as part of an Edwardian summer. The reflective floor-whirls and large, dilapidated winter-garden wall encourage a mood of self-regard among Illyria’s bereaved and desolate, but the shipwrecked newcomers seem to bring the bank-holiday energy (Feste as Punch-and-Judy man) that opens the second half.
Energy courses through the production. Martin Turner has a near-Russian passion in his serial rejection by Olivia, later seeming about to shoot himself, Olivia or Cesario when he feels betrayed. Kate Fleetwood’s Olivia has a lot of life in her mourning state.
As does Malvolio. Patrick Stewart’s saddled with a Scottish accent (more than he has as Macbeth across in the Minerva) to show, presumably, Puritanism but there’s plenty of energy about him, even when he ties his cross-gartered legs together, waddling and jumping off the stage.
He’s a lot funnier visually than verbally. And seeing this acting company perform the two Shakespeares (with different directors) suggests Shakespeare the verbal funnyman is his most intractable aspect. This play and As You Like It, his greatest comedies, are often produced so that the more profound they seem, the less funny they are.
There’s some cutting of Feste’s unfunny lines here, and attempts to get round the arm-flinging, launching-pad speaking that usually fails to gain the laughter it attempts to create. One of the funniest moments is silent; when Maria explains to her cronies how she’s tricking Malvolio into wearing a colour Olivia hates – yellow. It’s a moment before we notice poor Sir Andrew’s response, the hopeless would-be lover decked out in yellow top.
Scott Handy successfully makes Andrew a figure of sympathy and fun, while Paul Shelley’s Toby, with his apprentice-Einstein hairstyle, is the more dissolute in manner for his lithe appearance. Suzanne Burden’s Maria may be a servant but she could clearly organise and run almost anything. These provide much of the production’s heart along with Matthew Scott’s score, alternating confident Elgarian sweeps with mystic-sounding sustained tones. For all this society’s self-certainty, there is clearly a world elsewhere.
Orsino: Martin Turner
Curio: Oliver Birch
Valentine: Hywel John
Orsino’s Steward: Mark Rawlings
Olivia: Kate Fleetwood
Maria: Suzanne Burden
Sir Toby Belch: Paul Shelley
Sir Andrew Aguecheek: Scott Handy
Malvolio: Patrick Stewart
Fabian: Christopher Patrick Nolan
Maids: Polly Frame, Niamh McGrady
Viola: Laura Rees
Sea Captain/Officer of the Law: Christopher Knott
Sebastian: Ben Carpenter
Antonio: Tim Treloar
Feste: Michael Feast
Priest/Officer of the Law: Bill Nash
Director: Philip Franks
Designer: Leslie Travers
Lighting: Howard Harrison
Sound: Jonathan Suffolk
Composer: Matthew Scott
Movement: Shona Morris
Dialect coach: Charmian Hoare
Fight director: Malcolm Ranson
Assistant director: Christopher Haydon
2007-07-27 12:10:30