Written by William
Shakespeare
Directed by Ed
Wightman
Canberra Repertory,
Theatre 3
28 March - 12 April,
2014
Review by Len Power
It’s
apparently thirty years since Canberra Rep did a Shakespeare play and the last
one they did was, you guessed it, ‘Twelfth Night’.
Shakespeare’s
comedy is set in a mythical kingdom called Illyria. The story concerns a shipwrecked brother and
sister, a gender bending disguise, a rather cruel practical joke and a Duke and
a Lady with romance on their minds.
Ed
Wightman’s attractive production plays out on a clever and flashy set designed by
Quentin Mitchell. The show boasts some
excellent performances. Standouts were
Sam Hannan-Morrow as an audience-pleasing and rather modern Sir Toby Belch,
Lainie Hart as a very funny and quirky Olivia, Peter Holland as a delightfully
dopey Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Jerry Hearn as a hilarious and ultimately pitiful
Malvolio and Tim Sekuless, singing nicely and giving a performance of great
appeal as a kind of wandering minstrel rather than the usual Court Fool. There were some uneven performances amongst
other cast members who were not up to the demands of the text.
Lighting
design by Chris Ellyard worked well apart from an unfortunate opening night
glitch that plunged the cast into almost darkness for a few moments. Full marks go to the cast onstage at the time
who continued on as if nothing had happened.
The costume designs by Heather Spong were colourful and suited the 1930s
setting. Malvolio’s funny costume
with the yellow stockings and cross-garters served the actor very well and delighted
the audience.
The
director’s idea to set the play around the 1930s worked fine. It’s been well-staged and moves smoothly at a
good pace. The choice of songs from the
era rather than the words as published in the text was a nice touch and added
atmosphere to the play. Scene changes
were well planned and executed. However,
there seemed no point in having a woman play the role of Fabian dressed as a
man. This caused some confusion as the
plot also required Viola to appear, for good reason, as a man for most of the
play.
Nevertheless,
it’s an entertaining and frequently quite funny production of one of
Shakespeare’s more accessible plays.
It’s good to see Canberra Rep producing one again after all these years.
Originally broadcast
on Artsound FM’s ‘Dress Circle’ program on Sunday 30 March 2014.
