September 5, 2007, by Peter Kirwan
Twelfth Night (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre
I’m of the opinion that Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s greatest pieces of work. It’s funny, deep, very clever and features some of the greatest characters in the canon. Its immediate appeal is apparent from the number of productions of the play put on every year. The last twelve months alone have seen Filter, Cheek By Jowl, Propeller, Chichester Festival and the RSC all present the play in the UK, as well as any number of student and amateur productions. It’s also the play I’ve seen the most, in no less than five versions. Clearly, there’s something about it.
So why then is it so difficult for companies to put on good productions of it? Of the five productions I’ve seen one was unforgivably dire and one (the RSC’s last offering in 2005) had interesting moments but was horribly flat with some atrocious performances. Filter’s had promise, but the work-in-progress presentation was far from finished. By contrast, Cheek By Jowl’s version was one of the greatest pieces of theatre I have ever seen, but surely the play must be able to work in English as well as in Russian? I had high hopes for last night’s new RSC production, but again the play fell victim to the curse I seem to put on Twelfth Night whenever I buy a ticket.
It started well. Onto a stage dominated by a grand piano, costume racks and mirrors staggered James Clyde’s Feste, in tatty tuxedo and dishevelled in a manner Russell Brand would be proud of. Employed for his wonderful piano skills as well as his fantastically rakish look, he set straight to work on a stirring and deeply sad piano tune, to which Orsino came on in dressing gown, holding the audience rapt for a good five minutes as the music stirred at something within him. This was a powerful and wordless moment that introduced the two best performers in the piece to great effect: Jason Merrells’ Orsino brought the tortured conflict of the character to the forefront, while Clyde as Feste stole the show at every turn, only flagging towards the end when his irreverent sarcasm started to become annoying. For most of the play, though, his witty line in mimicry and random silliness was entertaining and I found myself sitting through other scenes waiting impatiently for his next appearance.
The Big Concept for this production was cross-gender casting, with a male Viola and female Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Fabian. Chris New did a reasonable job with Viola, but unfortunately those of us who saw Andrey Kuzichev in the same role only six months ago in Stratford know the wonder of watching a man who can convince us he is a woman. New was steady, and very funny in places, but felt incidental in a production which looked elsewhere for its focal points. New provided one particularly special moment in his second interview with Olivia, however, when he knelt as if to propose, taking her by the hand and looking her in the eye. She focused nervously on him as he gently told her that he only had one heart that no woman would ever be mistress of, and the slow heartbreak of the moment on her part was painful to watch.
Regular readers may recall that I hate, with something of a passion, staggered curtain calls. I don’t mind particularly important performances being acknowledged individually (Anne-Marie Duff in St. Joan, for example) but I really don’t like curtain calls where the actors troop on in order of importance. Last night, all the incidental figures, servants etc., came on first, and were then followed by Viola, Sebastian, Orsino, Olivia and Antonio. They were followed by Toby, Andrew, Maria and Fabian, and finally Feste and Malvolio took the lead bow. In what world does FABIAN get a higher priority curtain call than VIOLA?! I ask you.
Not that I minded Fabian. In fact, of all the low comedians (bar Feste), Fabian was the only one I considered worth watching. Joanne Howarth gave a very solid performance with buoyancy and an enthusiasm that made Fabian (normally the first character to be cut from the play) a far funnier and more important stage presence than usual. It was revelatory, in the sense that it was the first time I had really noticed Fabian onstage and realised how much Shakespeare gives him to do and say.
Fabian stood out next to the other comedians, who were just poor. Siobhan Redmond’s Maria was the most unbearable, walking with a waddle and talking with a slightly exaggerated Scottish accent that turned the character into a caricature. She had no discernable personality beyond the words she was saying at the time and bored me. Forgivable in a production where Maria is playing the straight-person to the comedy pairing of Toby and Andrew, but no such luck here. Marjorie Yates was passable as a caricature of an English landowner, but her Toby was unfunny, relying on the most basic of falling over routines in order to get laughs.
Annabel Leventon’s Sir Andrew was the worst though. Looking like nothing so much as a Thunderbird puppet with a stiff walk, set smile with teeth open so far that they could have had a cigar permanently set in them and an accent so faux-upper-class that it frequently became unintelligible, she was almost offensive in her ludicrous caricaturing. Occasionally, VERY occasionally, this worked to cause a laugh, and her falling-over sequences were actually amusing, but the posturing became irritating within seconds and her forced fixed expressions prevented any variation in the character. Sir Andrew is usually made ridiculous, but take the ridiculousness too far and you can feel like you’re watching a cartoon.
This was an actor-based performance, relying little on design elements, and unfortunately it was the performances that let it down. Justine Mitchell played a surprisingly funny Olivia, and John Lithgow was good value as a particularly strait-laced Malvolio, but overall this production felt redundant. The entrances and exits were cribbed from Cheek By Jowl’s style, the final scene of characters leaving from Trevor Nunn’s film version, the yellow stockings scene was as unimaginative as is possible and, perhaps most frustratingly, the concept of the comedians as female was entirely unused, as all three women were made up as men and their female selves were ignored, strange in a production which was so proud of its cross-gender casting that it spent the entire programme talking about the wonders of men and women cross-casting. A wasted opportunity.
Oh, and whoever brought the school group who decided to go “Ewwwwww” whenever two male actors kissed should, in my humble opinion, be shot.
I saw this last night and loved it. Perhaps this is because the previous play I saw was the Chichester TN, which minus Patrick Stewart was not very eventful. So when confronted with the complexity and innovation of the RSC production I responded well to it.
Just goes to show how individualised are our responses, because we bring into the theatre all our own preoccupations and complexities.
While I was away I had to record the latest French and Saunders – it then occurred to me that the Sir Toby and Andrew characters played by the women were like something out of French and Saunders – and then even more oddly, watching my recording of the show this afternoon on my return, Joanna Lumley introduces a section of the clip show with the words “If music be the food of love, play on…” How synchronistic!
saw this perfomance last night .It made me think .It will certainly be a production that i will remember .I liked the way in which Sexual ambiguity and crisis were so woven through the production and the costumes and settings were used to great effect.Some performances were fabulous.James Clyde as Feste was a fool for our times and added enormously to the whole play with music as well as a great delivery.Malvolio(John Lithgo) was stunning ..I think he has defined this role for me I’m not sure it could be bettered.Orsino was convincing.Olivia was ok .But then I started to struggle.
Marjorie yates and Annabel Leverton as Toby Belch and Aguecheek reminded me of past performances at my all girls school.I felt they were concentrating so hard on aping men they failed to come across as real people.They struggled to get the laughs .There were few surprises or risks in their characterisation other than the most obvious ones of cross dressing.Sorry girls.
Chris New came over as a young gay Cesario so the most obvious homo erotic references felt comfortaby reassuring but I never once felt that he was Viola-a woman .There was no real sexual charge between Cesario and Orsino so their relationship at the end felt really unconvincing.
However as I said ,all this did make me think and reflect on my reactions and I did feel that for large parts of the production i was in a looking glass world where nothing felt as it should be and all my assumptions were being challenged.As for the kids in the audience …they were great I watched their reactions all the way through and they were loving it and like all kids of that age they squirmed when anyone Kissed
I had never seen Twelfth Night until yesterday and I thought that after the wonderful opening and the iffy storm scene the whole play just simmered with sexual tension, all the characters were shown in a light that was revelatory in presenting the role of gender in relation to sexuality. Of course, after going to mid week matinee it left the somewhat strait laced audience wondering why Twelfth Night had been ‘gayed up’ to quote one lady, but I thought it really exposed human nature in a way that I cannot remember being exposed to before. Admittedly, the cross casting is a conceit that audience members have to accept, and I did willingly, and enjoyed the play thoroughly, leaving me thinking about what I have seen more than any other play I have seen recently.
Pete – As always, you seem to hit the nail on the head in your review, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. The three comedians were awful, the staging was ridiculous (what was it with the mirrors – potentially interesting, actually useless), Orsino showed great potential, and Feste was brilliant (albiet out of sync with the rest of the play). The thing I found most frustrating was that it had the potential to be great – it set up some really interesting ideas, but never followed them through. With the Victorian setting, they could have really explored how the confused sexualities in the play could be frustrated even further by the buttoned-up society. There was, as you say, no explanation of why Toby, Sir Andrew, and Fabian were women. And most frustratingly – they had actual twins playing Orsino and Antonio, and this was not even acknowledged. I personally find this relationship fascinating anyway – what is their history, what happened? Everyone immediately recognises Antonio in Illyria, but barely any details as to how, or what happened. The fact that you have TWINS playing these parts in this production seems to me to be a real oppertunity to build up their relationship – but no.
A very disappointing production. But thought provoking in it’s disappointments.
A side note – Jason Merrells and his twin (Orsino and Antonio) are playing twins in the upcoming RSC Comedy of Errors – I wonder if this will be any more successful? Probably, as it’s done by a different director.
I saw the play last night and loved it- even though it was disrupted by an incident wherby the theatre had to be vacated for 40 mins about half way into the first half. It helped I think that i had attended a workshop with my children that morning and had in mind to “look out for” certain features of the actors’ craft. That said I have to agree that Feste stood head and shoulders above the rest and that I too waited impatiently for his return- he was without doubt the only sexy member of the cast. Viola was too timid, Sir Andrew incomprehensible. One could find fault quite freely but none the less the overall experience as we left was that the play had been well transported into more recent times. My children (ages 10 and 11) agreed.
I saw this performance on 22nd september, with a small group from school, which we all found absolutely phenomenol.
the storyline was pretty complicated but the actors made this play as clear as it could be.
Jason merrells, whom of which played duke orsino, i found was an absolute fanstastic actor and i would like to give him a pat on the back and also the chap that played viola/cesario, these actors really did know how to keep a straight face throughout all of the funny comments.
please may i add that jasons brother, simon, that played antonio, were very similar in looks but they are not twins, just brothers, although they do play the role as twins in the comedy of errors.
I enjoyed this experience of watching welfth night and was very disappointed when i werent able to see it again in time.
It was quite good, John Lithgow was awesome, but what I really like is the variety that we as the audience bring to it via our own varied responses, (or some such protentious dribble), Feste was great as well, and I personaly had no qualms with Sir Toby and Co. nor Maria, however not being an avid theatre goer I am perhaps manifesting my naivety, and having also not read all of the play prior to the seeing it, it didn’t contradict my own perseptions on how the play should be performed. Although I did think that the Orsisno character was too masculine, and for a character who’s constantly exclaiming on how overwhelmed he is by notions of an unrequited love, his overt manliness jarred with said character traits and it just didn’t work when he said the line about retiring to go sleep amongst some flowers.
But I digress it was still a consummate performance in my inexperienced opinion.