Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written around 1601-1602. Viola survives a shipwreck and washes up on an unknown shore. Alone and bereaved of her twin brother Sebastian, she embarks on a secret new life dressed as a boy and works for the Count Orsini, with whom she falls in love. Orsini is in love with the Countess Olivia and sends Viola (disguised as Cesario) to deliver love messages to her, but Olivia falls for Viola, believing her to be a man. Things get more complicated when a moronic nobleman, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and a self-important servant, Malvolio, get caught up in the schemes of Olivia's uncle, the obese, alcoholic Sir Toby, who leads each to believe Olivia loves him. As well, Sebastian, who has been rescued by a sea captain, is mistaken by Olivia for Cesario and she declares her love for him. When they appear together, the puzzles around their mistaken identities, are resolved and Orsini will marry Viola and Olivia will wed Sebastian.     

The Chatsworth Players are performing Twelfth Night for eight performances in seven different outdoor locations, indeed, a mammoth undertaking. My visit was to The Whitworth in Darley Dale and I was hoping the weather would be kind to them as it had been very unsettled of late, and indeed it was. The setting was simple, for obvious reasons, there was a cordoned off area to represent the stage, a framed lit structure to its rear under which were three very modernistic representations of trees, an elaborate chair and a large ‘tree stump’.

We first meet Count Orsino, a powerful, well-bred and fearless nobleman who is totally in love with Countess Olivia. Joe Murphy displayed all these characteristics admirably and his servant Curio was well played by Alex Gordon who also doubled up as Antonio, with good support coming from Sean Day as Valentine. Joe also was a Servant. Grace Day excelled as Viola who was distraught at having survived a shipwreck and the loss of her twin brother. She decides to dress as a boy and finds herself working for Count Orsino. This transformation to Cesario, now clad in a splendid outfit, was top notch and so believably portrayed by Grace. The ‘double act’ of Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek proved to be so funny. Stuart McLean was outstanding as Sir Toby, Olivia’s Uncle. He captured the drunkenness, the fun-loving and comedic aspects of the role perfectly, he was a real hoot, but did get angry and serious at one juncture. By contrast the somewhat foppish and frivolous nature of Sir Andrew was splendidly achieved by Danny Washington. Maria, a servant of Countess Olivia, was brilliantly played by Sally Shaw. She was so full of fun but quite clever and devious and the three of them had some wonderful uproarious scenes together. Helen Rogers was excellent as Feste, the court fool, and she had a such a lovely singing voice as she sang to Sir Toby and Sir Andrew who by the actions were obviously quite bored with it. Fabian, a cheerful, lively, light-hearted servant to Olivia was expressively play by Kate Stuart. Alicia Bloundele was superb as Countess Olivia portraying the elegance and the snobbishness so impeccably whilst managing to convey her vulnerability and impulsiveness exquisitely. As Malvolio, a steward in Olivia’s household, Andrew Freeman was terrific. He was the very essence of a pompous, conceited, upstanding and ambitious man who was secretly in love with Olivia. Even when he appeared in his nightshirt following the noisy singing and dancing by Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria and Feste he still had on his Chain of Office. The stunt played by Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria, when a letter was delivered to him, saw him return in yellow knee stockings and a most flamboyant outfit and his over-the top actions were hysterical and caused a most amusing scene to follow. Sean Day, as Sebastian, in an identical outfit to that of Cesario, excelled in the portrayal of the confident, self-assured but bemused character. Of course, when he makes an appearance much confusion and chaos ensue and we have fights over misidentification and eventually Olivia, who has fallen in love with Cesario, intervenes and takes ‘Sebastian’ off to marry him. How fortunate for the group that Grace, playing Cesario, and Sean, playing Sebastian, are brother and sister and are so alike. What a gift this was regarding the play, not only because of their looks, but also as they are both such good actors. Good support came from Charlotte Cooper as the Captain, an Officer and the Priest. When all is sorted out and Olivia is now with Sebastian and Orsino is united with Viola, merriment follows. Feste sings and everyone proceeds to perform a super choreographed dance around the ‘log’ on which stands Sebastian playing along on a violin whilst Malvolio taps out the beat on a tambourine. It is a very complex story that is extremely difficult, in this short report, for me to convey all the twists and turns, and to give credit to all the excellent scenes and actions. It was so entertaining and so proficiently and expertly delivered by an extremely talented cast that I do hope that I have gone someway in communicating what a brilliant production it was, all enhanced by fabulous costumes, hair and make-up, good props and excellent lighting and sound. Oh, and the trees did have an important role, as they were an integral part in that they provided so much hilarity, as hiding places.

Many congratulations to Director Lindsay Jackson, to Production Coordinator Simon Nicholls, to Choreographer Jo Petch, to all the Backstage Crew and to everyone else involved in any way and may I add my sincere thanks to Lindsay for her very warm welcome.

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.