Twelfth Night

For Gweek Players' first ever venture into Shakespeare, the romp that is Twelfth Night was a sound choice with its comic plot firmly rooted in the Bard's already well-used device of disguises and mistaken identities.  The informative programme notes furnished us with details of the research that was undertaken into appropriate styles, colours and music before transforming the Village Hall into a glorious imagining of an archetypal Middle Eastern/Ottoman domain that captivated the full house even before Orsino’s famous first words were spoken.

Both the stage and the hall floor were used to fulfil the need for interior and exterior settings and the richness of detail in the onstage dressing worked well in contrast to the minimal representations on the thrust.  Generous drapes of pastel satins backed the stage and allowed tent-like entrances between their folds, which the cast were pleasingly careful to walk through without constant batting of the fabric!   The screen placed at the midway point provided a subtle visual break between the two sides and separated the households of Orsino and Olivia satisfyingly.  The decision to stage outdoor scenes on the flat gave an open feeling and freedom of movement conducive to the fresh air of streets and gardens with shrubs and trees of tissue paper pompoms in psychedelic colours that underpinned the exotic nature of this imagined landscape.   As had been so carefully selected, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade suite supported the storytelling by blending imperceptibly with the environment and the moods evoked by the many references to music.  The little dance between Belch and Aguecheek caused some amusement but I ask whether other than a classic European-style minuet was considered for a Middle Eastern setting?  What a joy it was to have the performance of Feste’s own accompaniment to his songs and ditties on guitar and finger drum.  

A good deal of imagination had gone into bringing this vision alive with the original design of the set and the creation of many costumes.  Olivia’s full-length white satin gown with its collared neckline cleverly changing with additions of sashes and glitter overlay to echo her emergence from mourning.  Equally, Feste’s particoloured suit and the full-skirted pseudo-military style jacket of Malvolio.  His nightcap was funny and he looked comical in his cross-gartered yellow stockings; the distressed version with ladders was an eloquent attention to detail!   No one ever questions that Viola and Sebastian end up in identical outfits despite their unrelated journeys to where they are now, but they always do, so it was apt that tradition was followed and the simple waistcoat and loose shirt over breeches was a classic look.   I can quite see that it took a team of eight cutting and stitching to amass the collection of exotically colourful and fine-looking costumes for all 20 of the cast - a great achievement and the effort paid off magnificently.  Make-up was well-balanced under the lights with some facial hair gracing Malvolio to enhance the ‘masculine’ appearance as well as having a comic value, and the supply of bloody handkerchiefs and bruised temples for the injured knights was suitably gory.   It was lucky that the hair of Viola and Sebastian was similar by nature so could be dressed into ponytails in the same way, and the two obvious wigs fitted well and had a realistic appearance: Olivia’s beautifully coiffured and staying reliably tidy throughout, and Sir Andrew’s greasy straight locks fitting credibly with his vague nature.   Adding to the comedy was the hairy beard of Sir Topas, manhandled hilariously by Feste.   

The Bard gives little in the way of explicit stage direction, instead offering all that is needed in the text itself, so careful script analysis is vital for movement clues and cast understanding of the language and character portrayal.  The space was used in a balanced way, with levels creating changing visual pictures, and multi-access points helping a fluid telling of the story.  The close proximity of audience and players when on the floor demands in-the-round delivery with its own skills of stagecraft that transcend simple blocking, so I was aware of differences in the finesse of individuals to adjust the volume of voice when facing upstage, and move gracefully so that backs were not seen for too long.  Aline glowed as Malvolio, easily rising to the task of creating a male character with a well-projected and lowered vocal tone plus clear and humorous facial expressions, especially the ghastly smile, that conveyed the layers of this complicated man.  Bold stance and physicality in her moves supported the gender-swap and created believable relationships with others, helped by confident eye-contact.  The letter soliloquy, delivered with thoughtful deliberation so that its import could be clearly understood, earned the laughter of the audience.  Orsino’s famous opening line is well known and Mike delivered it in a pompous manner with head thrown back and an authoritative tone.  The noble posture throughout was matched by careful gestures and clear projection.  The return of Jane was to be welcomed and her portrayal of Olivia demonstrated what a competent actor she is.  Bold eye-contact with her conversation partners, natural movement and a clear voice with excellent diction produced a character whose changes we could follow from the determinedly mourning sister/daughter to the moonstruck newcomer to love.  If the fickle nature of that love was rather sudden we must blame the playwright!  Sir Toby and Sir Andrew were well-matched as a comical pairing, exaggerated because of their opposite physical appearances.  We saw a suitably confused and cowardly, almost foppish, Sir Andrew, though might there have been a deliberate demonstration of their different characters with a more bawdy and physically energetic Sir Toby to convey their earthy friendship?  They tackled the difficult-to-do drunken behaviour without losing quality of delivery because both had clear diction, and their game-playing came across with well-maintained pace and conversational tones. The supporting parts were doubled in several cases to give us cameos as the attendants, Officers, Sailors and servants who fill out the story.    The joyful singing as the full ensemble joined in Feste’s final song gave a sparkling finale that drew an enthusiastic response from the audience.   Overall, this production was a buoyant and original interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s best-known works that was thoroughly enjoyed by the capacity audience and will have given the company a great sense of achievement.   

Thank you for inviting NODA to Gweek once again. I had a great night.  Good luck with your plans for the next production.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.