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by BrumHour saw Twelfth Night at the invite of The RSC.
By Dave Massey x.com/BrumHour
Review: Twelfth Night at The RSC Royal Shakespeare Theatre
⭐⭐⭐⭐A strong stylish production
Directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah voice and text by Jeannette Nelson
Washed up in an unknown land, Viola (Gwyneth Keyworth) poses as a boy called Cesario to earn money and avoid being spotted. She finds herself the object of the affection of Freema Agyeman’s Olivia, as well as discovering an attraction to Bally Gill’s Orsino. Meanwhile, Malvolio, who is part of Olivia’s household, thinks Olivia loves him.
Years ago, Twelfth Night was the first ever Shakespeare play I watched and I’ve seen several versions over the years. This is bordering on farcical, and chaotic at times and really allows the individual performances to shine.
The stage backdrop is grand and switches from a huge window emulating a stormy sky to a grand organ which takes up most of the stage. The costumes feel very 1940s or 1950s without being clear about when it is really set.
Michael Grady-Hall is excellent as Feste, delivering a comedic and at times tragic fourth wall-breaking performance and clowning with the audience as though he’s escaped into his own traditional pantomime. Samuel West’s Malvolio draws attention throughout but it is the performances of Freema Agyeman and Gwyneth Keyworth which captured my attention as the core of the story. The themes of misguided love and lust coupled with mistaken identity play out really well.
There are several musical interludes built within the story and these serve to break up the drama and comedy.
This is an excellent production with a lot to offer in nearly three hours of story (including an interval), It might be a little long for some people with ninety minutes for the first half but it does zip along and the characters feel very fleshed out.
A strong stylish production Twelfth Night is at The RSC, Royal Shakspeare Theatre until 18th January 2025. Book tickets here: rsc.org.uk/twelfth-night.
