Twelfth Night, or What You Will

The Wayfarers Drama Group

TWELFTH NIGHT (or WHAT YOU WILL) by William Shakespeare

As seen by Matthew Heaton (NODA Southwest Regional Councillor) for Mike Purnell (District 9 Representative) on Wednesday 5th August 2026.

Directed by:                         Mike Bird

Produced by:                      Stephen Fudge                                                                          

Theatre in the Hut, Weston-Super-Mare

This was not my first visit to The Wayfarers, but is my but first time reporting on one of their productions. I was surprised to discover that this was the first time that such a prestigious group had taken on Shakespeare – but you really would not have known from Wednesday night’s opening performance.

I usually feel it necessary to explain my understanding of the play and its context. Twelfth Night or What You Will was produced in the middle of Shakespeare’s writing period and one of his shortest in length, with slightly more prose than verse in structure. Set in the fictional kingdom of Illyria, it is sourced from a Greek Comedy about identical twins separated by misfortune. Interestingly, it is his only play with a double title and displays a split personality - stirring moods of mournful sorrow and gleeful humour. It pushes the boundary of comedy as it opens with two deaths, which shape the plot – Olivia for her loss of her brother and Viola fears loss of brother in the shipwreck that brings her to a new land. The main action of the play resolves around this dual loss. The sub-plot on Malvolio, the prudish steward to Olivia, who is tricked into thinking that the lady he serves is secretly in love with him, in contrast is never fully resolved, as it ends with Malvolio threatening to be ‘revenged on the whole pack of you”. Twelfth Night in name refers to the Twelfth Night of Christmas, the so-called Pagan Feast of the Fools still celebrated in Shakespeare’s time. Some productions of Twelfth Night use this celebration to briefly invert standard hierarchies, overturned social orders and praised human folly. Others exploit this to overstep boundaries, whilst others seek to not cause offence, indicating the range of interpretation options available to a Director of this play.

Twelfth Night was a good choice to start with as one of the playwright’s most popular and well-known comedies, but also one known for its inventive production opportunities, exploring bereavement and revelry as aspects of a single vision. The play examines varieties of human desire, from baser urges for food, drink, sex and revenge to loftier longings for justice and love.

Set and Staging: Setting the production in present day allowed some flexibility in the staging, which was both logical and effective. The venue has a small stage but you used it well. A relatively simple set comprised a walled front towards the back of the stage with flats behind to allow entrances on either or in the middle, providing effective space and access for the production.  A table and bench were in the centre (without the table in Act 2), with an Armchair SL and a well-used Sideboard and drinks SR. Steps down to auditorium were used well to create intimacy of conversations with the 4th wall, with entrances and exits through the audience too, adding interest and maintaining pace. The opening ‘flap’ in the wall for Malvolio’s imprisonment was a nice surprise and worked really well, as did the panels of ‘tree’ coverage. This permitted great use by the cast and created some real comedy gold.

Properties: These too were all very well-done – the contemporary shopping bags of drink, complete with clinking bottles for example were great fun. Good use and control of swords for the non-duel was noted too.

Lighting: There was excellent coverage across the stage providing consistent levels for the main scenes, with some nice colour variations.  The lighting was effective for the storm, though I wondered if it could have been made even more dramatic. There was an upwards lovely red effect for Malvolio in his imprisonment scene. Well done overall.

Sound and Music:  Music is key to the production, starting with the famous line of ‘If Music be The Food of Love, Play On”.  In general, the contemporary music feel worked well and I enjoved the opening theme of ‘It Must Be Love”.  This did contrast with the style of song required from Feste, which I felt made his task all the more difficult with the audience. It was a nice touch for the whole cast to finish the production singing Feste’s song together. Cast could be heard clearly over any music and all words were completely audible in the venue without the need for enhanced amplification, which was excellent.

Costumes, Hair and Make-Up: The present-day setting gave some more free reign here which you took good advantage of. There were some lovely touches, from the subtle red and blue identification for each house member, to the sunglasses used as the black mourning veils. I really enjoyed the quirky costume for the quirky Sir Andrew, with his Fez and odd-coloured socks and there were lots of clever costume arrangements throughout the cast. The costume and hair transition for Viola to Cesario worked well in allowing an audience acceptance that she should could be disguised as a man and matching costumes so closely with Sebastian helped with the belief in them being twins. Their hair similarities worked well here too (though I suspect the similarity with Orsino here was unintentional!). The legendary yellow stockings, cross-gartered worked really well too. Overall, some very effective and creative work here which really enhanced the production.

Direction: Twelfth Night is a Shakespearian play without great speeches or folly. Instead, it comments on life by focusing the audience on its action. The tempo is crucial to the success of this and you created and maintained a lovely rolling pace in this production, making it highly enjoyable. It was clear the direction here had been put together by someone who understood and loved Shakespeare’s work.

Shakespearian comedies I feel are the most difficult for an audience to get into as the humour is often based on detailed verbal word-play of the period. The Director’s introduction to the audience for the evening was a clever touch, as it gave an audience, many of whom would be new to or uncertain about Shakespeare the permission to laugh. A good dollop of slap-stick and visual humour in the production helped here too!  Very well done!

Characters:

The good spread of characters in the production ensured that there was something for all of this group’s talented ensemble to get immersed in. Shakespearian language is notoriously difficult to learn, but overall dialogue was extremely accurate and well-delivered from the whole cast.

Olivia (Gemma). You played the rich Countess, vowed to mourn her dead brother for 7 years really well, with strong diction and phrasing. It certainly did not seem like your first-time performing Shakespeare. You captured Olivia’s transitioning moods expertly, from sorrow and brooding, to strength and anger in rejecting Duke Orsino’s advances, before transforming to sass and passion when attempting to woo Cesario and finally marrying Sebastian. You made this flow extremely well, so that it all seemed perfectly natural and plausible. An impressive performance of an iconic character – great work.

Viola (Scarlett). This is one of most demanding of Shakespeare’s female leads – playing a Twin sister to Sebastian before disguising as ‘Cesario’ – the male page to win favour of Duke Orsino, with whom you then fall in love. The character has to balance love and a clear head. You portrayed this really well with an excellent performance overall – combining this character range with a full spread of emotions most effectively, from grief to love, anxiety to passion, but also with both humour and pathos. Your speeches to the audience were a real highlight, clearly and articulately portraying your inner thoughts and gaining our confidence, as were your excessively ‘manly’ gestures when first disguised. You allowed us to believe your character and story, no matter how implausible this may really be. Very well done.

Feste (Matthew). Feste the Clown in the home of Olivia is a brilliant, razor-sharp wit and impersonator and commentator on events, who spars verbally with everyone in his household and beyond in the court of neighbour, Duke Orsino using his dead pan humour. Clowns, and Feste in particular I think are some of hardest characters in Shakespeare to play as they rely so much on unfamiliar word-play. You tackled the part with real confidence which had the audience with you from the start. Occasionally you sped up your dialogue in the early parts of the show so the word play was difficult to keep up with and process at times. I’m sure this was just some sub-conscious opening-night nerves, as you gave an assured performance when teasing Malvolio as Sir Topas later on.  I thought the songs were particularly difficult against the contemporary music used elsewhere, but you used them to capture the bitter-sweet tone of the comedy really well. Good work.

Maria (Dani). Maria is a great fun part as Olivia’s gentlewoman – the witty author of the plot to humiliate Malvolio and a key part of the play’s hilarious ensemble work. I read that you are pretty new to the stage and you overcame any early nerves with really growing into the part, forming some nice comic combinations with Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. You also found out that improvising missed lines in Shakespeare is almost impossible, but your inspired ad-lib had the audience laughing with you in completely the right way. Well done and do continue to keep both developing and challenging yourself.

Sir Toby Belch (Warren). Being Uncle to Olivia, a lover of drink and merry-making, prankster on Sir Andrew and irritant to Malvolio requires great comic timing and delivery – which you expertly put across. You made the best of every comic opportunity available to you, both verbal and physical, keeping us on side despite the ‘notable shame’ on Malvolio going too far. A key part of the hilarious ensemble team work with Maria and Fabia, you formed a brilliant pairing with Sir Andrew, creating some of the real highlights in the show. Confident work out to the audience too. Great performance!

Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Harry). Your performance as the dim-witted, inane but wealthy guest in Olivia’s home, demonstrated a comic capability well beyond your years. The detail in your mannerisms, movements and timings were exceptional and made a comic masterpiece out of Sir Andrew. From your sloppy attempts to woo Olivia, through to the comedy thumpings, the non-duel and the ridiculousness of your costume, you made the most of every opportunity for humour, not just alone but also when working expertly with Sir Toby, Maria and Fabia. Many congratulations!

Malvolio (Mike). The peevish, pompous and opinionated Steward to Olivia, possesses a superstructure of pride bottomed on a sense of worth, in one of the most famous roles in the play.  You really made the most of this role, putting in a well-controlled, detailed and thoughtful performance, allowing us to view your belief that “all who look on him, love him”. Your attempted wooing of Olivia was hilarious - mixing some playful wit with trounced longing. What you also did expertly was develop the tragic side of the figure at the dark-end play, allowing us some sympathy for the character too as the joke goes too far. This was no easy feat – very well done.

Orsino (Will). The Duke of Illyria feels like a hopeless romantic, trying to woo Olivia even as she mourns her dead brother. You really got the essence of the character, opening the play really well with your “If music be the food of love, play on” and I loved your casual lounging across the bench later on in the scene with your musings. You kept the character’s romantic inclinations flowing through-out. Your connection with Cesario / Viola grew and worked well and developed nicely as the play continued. Well done!

Antonio (Mike). As the Sea-captain and friend to Sebastian, you are a link to a grittier past to the story. A strong and passionate performance with lovely Mediterranean accent was well-delivered with strong diction. A lovely supporting role.

Sebastian (Poppy). As the other half of the identical twin to Viola, feared perished at sea - you built a strong character with conviction, delivering lines with clear diction and phrasing. As very much the straight man, you played the confusion of mistaken identities really well, making the ending all the more plausible. Nice work.

Fabia (Tina). As servant to Olivia, you joined the mockery of Malvolio, putting in a funny and engaging performance with good comic timing, working well with the other comic characters.

The additional roles of the Sea Captain / Priest (Kevin) and Curio / Valentina / Officer (attendants of Duke Orsino - Karen) supported proceedings very well.

 

Overall, this was an excellent evening’s entertainment and congratulations for taking on something new for the Group Thank you for the invitation. This was an innovative and very funny production that brought Shakespeare to your audience. Lovely work!  I wish you every success with your future productions.

PLEASE NOTE:

Any observation made by the reviewer can only be based on what he sees at the performance in question.  The reviewer may have received information in advance of the performance and it is inevitable that his assessment will be effected by that knowledge.

The N.O.D.A. Representative’s intention is to give an objective critique of the overall production and in particular the performance viewed.  It should be remembered that any review of this nature can only be objective as far as the techniques used during the performance observed.  Any criticisms expressed may not have been valid at other performances, and are only made to encourage higher standards in Amateur Theatre.

It is hoped that the audience’s appreciation of your efforts will have given everyone a lift and encouraged you to greater achievements in the future and that the observations made by the reviewer will prove helpful in improving future productions.

 

 

 

 

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