Twelfth Night

Thank you for inviting me to the preview of your open-air production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

‘Twelfth Night’ is a complicated and multi-layered comedy complete with deception, disguise, the madness of love and in this version a band of pirates. There is something really magical about watching Shakespeare in the open-air and Progress Theatre’s version of ‘Twelfth Night’ was a marvellous vehicle, for this richly talented cast to perform, and a joy to watch. The acting talent in this show was immense and under the sensitive and skilled direction you felt very much a part of the action. The delivery and phrasing of Shakespeare’s words were a delight to listen to and added to the enjoyment. There was superb characterisation and physicality from all of the actors and the different personalities of their characters were established as soon as the cast entered the stage. Including sea shanties in this production with its pirate theme was a clever touch and added another dimension to the performance. ‘What shall we do with the drunken sailor?’ sung by the whole cast for the curtain call was great fun.

It’s one thing to run a show in the theatre, but a completely different thing to transport everything across town, manage building a stage and dressing rooms and plan for inclement weather whilst ensuring that everyone is well catered for and safe. The team clearly achieved all of this as the show ran very smoothly despite intermittent showers and gusts of wind on the night I watched.

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