Twelfth Night

Signs that a director has worked diligently with their cast on one of Shakespeare’s plays is when you can understand the meaning of what each individual is saying, and you can tell that the actors also understand the meaning of what they’re saying. The understanding is clear in how conversational their speaking is and how little there is in their speech of that lofty, nasally tone that so many actors infuse their lines with when performing  the Bard’s work.

These seemingly simple attributes of understanding, clarity and conversational speaking made Watlington Players’ October production of Twelfth Night a joy to watch recently.  

Directed by Ian Gooda, who also played Feste the Fool and performed several songs, this was a colourful, zesty rendition of Twelfth Night with lots of fun, humour and clever bits that would have all been lost had this been a traditional production.

For the uninitiated, it’s a story of Viola and Sebastian, young adult twins separated in a shipwreck, and their encounters and affairs with unlikely characters as they re-establish themselves in civilised Italy. Under Gooda’s deft direction, there were some genuine gender transformations in a few roles – alongside those that are part of the story -- actually playing confidently to the benefit of the action.

This production was played in rather contemporary fashion with the clothing belonging to any recent decade, with only Malvolio’s yellow tights and crossed garters, called for in Shakespeare’s script, an absolute must for purposes of the story. A favourite item was the patchwork trousers of Gooda’s Feste, giving him the relaxed look of a hippie troubadour.

In the midst of this rather wonderful production, if any part/s of the production didn’t quite work, they were its bookends – the very beginning and the very end. The opening sequence of shipwrecked Viola sharing her future plans with the Captain was so quiet and subtle as to raise questions as to whether the show had started. This often ignored opening should have drama and clearly launch an adventure. The ending was too long by far, reminiscent of a panto’s final stages, closing once with a rousing song, followed then by a curtain call and bows.

A beautiful and unexpected highlight was a tightly staged, comedic sword fight by an unwilling Viola/Cesario and an equally unwilling Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Real swords were used, but this fight was carefully choreographed, ensuring that the laughs were many and the players were safe.

Dynamic, character-full performances that brought the story to life were many. Particularly impressive were Allan Lord as the blustering Sir Toby Belch, Vanessa McAuley as the conniving lady’s maid Maria, Liam Baker as the vacant Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Ellie Hiam as moneyed Olivia and Richard Abel as unfortunate Malvolio. Special mentions go to Georgia Smith as Viola, who dresses as a man, Cesario, to work for the duke Orsino, after the shipwreck and Ethan Robinson as her twin, Sebastian. Another special mention goes to Megan Abbott for her portrayal of a glamourous, good-humoured Fabian – written for a man -- as Sir Toby’s partner-in-crime in a breezy, knowing performance.

Watlington Players will take their Twelfth Night to King’s Lynn in November for a very special performance – at St George’s Guildhall, where Shakespeare himself is rumoured to have trod the boards. If his ghost pops up for the occasional performance, this is one rendition of this play that he would greatly like.

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