Shakespeare’s tale of love, identity and cross-dressing sees twins Viola and Sebastian separated after their ship sinks, each washing up on the coast of Illyria, unaware that the other has survived. In order to get by, Viola dresses as a man, calls herself Cesario and serves the Duke Orsino. Cesario falls in love with the Duke; however, he is already in love with the disinterested Countess Olivia. Cesario becomes their go-between and, believing Cesario is a young man, Olivia falls in love with ‘him’.
The play opens in a 1960s Illyria, where Orsino is flanked by scantily clad young lovelies of both sexes sunbathing on a deck to Gene Pitney’s ‘A Town Without Pity’. A large section of blue fabric, held rippling a few feet off the floor, convincingly represents the water.
Anthony Gooley’s highly amusing Orsino is somewhat of a surprise, moving away from what is generally a more serious and melancholy character. Instead he is haughty, narcissistic and slightly camp. Megan Drury’s Olivia is equally funny in her portrayal of a capricious modern-day princess.
The subplot involving Olivia’s drunken uncle Sir Toby Belch (James Lugton) and maid Maria (Bernadette Ryan), who play a cruel trick on her puritanical steward Malvolio (well captured by Mark Lee) induce some of the loudest laughs of the evening. Instead of a cell, Malvolio is imprisoned in a mobile ice-cream trolley, and the humour is heightened by an underlying, slightly disturbing absurdity.
The real stand-out, however, is Abigail Austin’s Viola/Cesario. As with all plays, the suspension of disbelief in Shakespeare is crucial to its success. Austin makes you believe she is a young girl pretending to be a young boy (or, as in Shakespeare’s day, a young boy pretending to be a young girl pretending to be a young boy) – quite a feat. Cesario is the central figure in the play and Austin’s performance is equally subtle and assured in moments of both drama and comedy.
Although director Damien Ryan has chosen to accentuate the play’s comedic elements, like all Shakespearean comedies, Twelfth Night has a satisfying gravity to it, particularly evident in Malvolio’s damning indictment of his cruel treatment at the hands of Sir Toby et al.
One misstep, perhaps, is the decision to bring Viola onstage dressed as a woman at the end, something not in the play as written. This seems to have more to do with appeasing a modern audience’s need for closure, and leaves us with nothing more to ponder once the curtain has fallen.
That said, Twelfth Night was a definite highlight of this year’s Leura Shakespeare Festival and would be a welcome selection in next year’s program.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
By William Shakespeare
Director: Damien Ryan
Costume Design: Anna Gardiner
Music Composition: Christopher Harley
Sound Design/Videography: David Stalley
Dance Choreography: Lizzie Schebesta
Lighting Designer: Toby Knyvett
Set Construction: Nick Catran
Cast: Keith Agius, Abigail Austin, George Banders, Megan Drury, Gabriel Fancourt, Anthony Gooly, Sam Haft, Danielle King, Mark Lee, Naomi Livingston, James Lugton, Tyran Parke, Michael Pigott, Bernadette Ryan, Francesca Savige, Scott Sheridan, Christopher Stalley, Christopher Tomkinson and Eloise Winestock.
The Leura Shakespeare Festival 2013
6 – 19 January
