For box office information, click on the title of this review.
To those of you who think that all Shakespeare’s comedies are masterpieces just because he wrote them, I wish you a happy life seeing nothing but All’s Well That Ends Well, Love’s Labours Lost and Troilus and Cressida.
Twelfth Night, however, is one of Shakespeare’s comic masterpieces. The girl-disguised-as-a-boy routine comes into full flowering (or deflowering, as the case may be) here. Viola is shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria. Her twin brother Sebastian has supposedly drowned and Viola, living by her wits, disguises herself as a boy and goes to work for Orsino, a nobleman in love with the Countess Olivia, who disdains him. Viola falls in love with Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, who is in love with Cesario, who is Viola in disguise. Hilarity ensues. The subplot involves the gulling of pompous ass Malvolio by Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Maria and Feste the Fool.
Let me state at the outset that as far as the audience reaction at the end was concerned, Midsummer Theatre Troupe’s Twelfth Night (directed by Toni Hix) was the cat’s pajamas. And the audience was huge. Apparently, there is an audience out there so starved for Shakespeare that they go nuts over imperfect productions. Play reading committees take note.
Probably the best thing I can say about this production is that I liked it better than Arsenic and Old Lace. There were a lot of good people in this. A lot. And 90% of the time: they knew what they were saying. They communicated the meaning to the audience. But they weren’t funny. The audience, while applauding heartily at the finish, did not laugh very much. The problem is one of direction. There wasn't any. It appeared to be a traffic cop situation. People were told how to get on and off stage. Once up there, whatever they did was up to them. I’ve rarely seen as much meandering back and forth in a comedy.
I’m not going to comment on the acting, except to say that I’ve seen most of these people before in better performances; and the people who were new to me seemed to have great potential. Standouts were Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria, Viola and the Fool. Malvolio was a good actor, but miscast. He was too young and (at least from the back of the crowd) better looking than Orsino or Viola – there was no reason for Olivia NOT to fall for him.
It is not what the actors are providing, but what the director does with it that creates the three major problems.
Anachronism: Orsino sings a couple of songs: All By Myself and I’m a Believer. But the show is done in period costume and there are no other updates of any kind. It’s just jarring and unfunny.
Consistency: There is pronunciation issue. “Maria” in the show is pronounced MaRIa. The other possible interpretation is MaREEa. Everyone in the show calls her MaREEa except Malvolio, who calls her MaRIa. When this same company did “Taming of the Shrew”, half the company said PetROOCHeeo and the other half said PetROOKeeo. Is the director just plain not listening? Either one is fine, just make a goddamn decision.
Similarly, Feste (a man) in this production becomes Festa (a woman). Fine. Great. That absolutely works. Now make sure that ALL the cast changes lines with “he” and “him” to “she” and “her”. Some people did, some people didn’t. It’s not that hard to do. Directing, like the devil, is in the details.
Humor: There isn’t much. Focus was on clearly spitting out the lines, which is very important, but getting laughs would help. There was no physical comedy at all. One of the funniest moments I’ve seen was when the luminous Kyra Sedgwick (Olivia) seized Helen Hunt (Viola) and gave her a kiss hot enough to melt steel. “But that’s professional theatre!” I hear you cry.
All right – one of the other funniest things I’ve ever seen was in the first community production of Twelfth Night I attended. On Malvolio’s line, “I will smile!” there was a full thirty second break while the actor playing Malvolio gradually broke down his facial muscles into a smile, since it was something he had never done before. It was like watching Hercules trying to lift a boulder, which he finally thrusts triumphantly above his head.
The comedic possibilities are a deep forest which went unexplored by a company sticking cautiously to the main road.
However, there are some really good actors in here and most of the venues are free. Go take a look and let me know how strongly you disagree with me.
To those of you who think that all Shakespeare’s comedies are masterpieces just because he wrote them, I wish you a happy life seeing nothing but All’s Well That Ends Well, Love’s Labours Lost and Troilus and Cressida.
Twelfth Night, however, is one of Shakespeare’s comic masterpieces. The girl-disguised-as-a-boy routine comes into full flowering (or deflowering, as the case may be) here. Viola is shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria. Her twin brother Sebastian has supposedly drowned and Viola, living by her wits, disguises herself as a boy and goes to work for Orsino, a nobleman in love with the Countess Olivia, who disdains him. Viola falls in love with Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, who is in love with Cesario, who is Viola in disguise. Hilarity ensues. The subplot involves the gulling of pompous ass Malvolio by Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Maria and Feste the Fool.
Let me state at the outset that as far as the audience reaction at the end was concerned, Midsummer Theatre Troupe’s Twelfth Night (directed by Toni Hix) was the cat’s pajamas. And the audience was huge. Apparently, there is an audience out there so starved for Shakespeare that they go nuts over imperfect productions. Play reading committees take note.
Probably the best thing I can say about this production is that I liked it better than Arsenic and Old Lace. There were a lot of good people in this. A lot. And 90% of the time: they knew what they were saying. They communicated the meaning to the audience. But they weren’t funny. The audience, while applauding heartily at the finish, did not laugh very much. The problem is one of direction. There wasn't any. It appeared to be a traffic cop situation. People were told how to get on and off stage. Once up there, whatever they did was up to them. I’ve rarely seen as much meandering back and forth in a comedy.
I’m not going to comment on the acting, except to say that I’ve seen most of these people before in better performances; and the people who were new to me seemed to have great potential. Standouts were Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria, Viola and the Fool. Malvolio was a good actor, but miscast. He was too young and (at least from the back of the crowd) better looking than Orsino or Viola – there was no reason for Olivia NOT to fall for him.
It is not what the actors are providing, but what the director does with it that creates the three major problems.
Anachronism: Orsino sings a couple of songs: All By Myself and I’m a Believer. But the show is done in period costume and there are no other updates of any kind. It’s just jarring and unfunny.
Consistency: There is pronunciation issue. “Maria” in the show is pronounced MaRIa. The other possible interpretation is MaREEa. Everyone in the show calls her MaREEa except Malvolio, who calls her MaRIa. When this same company did “Taming of the Shrew”, half the company said PetROOCHeeo and the other half said PetROOKeeo. Is the director just plain not listening? Either one is fine, just make a goddamn decision.
Similarly, Feste (a man) in this production becomes Festa (a woman). Fine. Great. That absolutely works. Now make sure that ALL the cast changes lines with “he” and “him” to “she” and “her”. Some people did, some people didn’t. It’s not that hard to do. Directing, like the devil, is in the details.
Humor: There isn’t much. Focus was on clearly spitting out the lines, which is very important, but getting laughs would help. There was no physical comedy at all. One of the funniest moments I’ve seen was when the luminous Kyra Sedgwick (Olivia) seized Helen Hunt (Viola) and gave her a kiss hot enough to melt steel. “But that’s professional theatre!” I hear you cry.
All right – one of the other funniest things I’ve ever seen was in the first community production of Twelfth Night I attended. On Malvolio’s line, “I will smile!” there was a full thirty second break while the actor playing Malvolio gradually broke down his facial muscles into a smile, since it was something he had never done before. It was like watching Hercules trying to lift a boulder, which he finally thrusts triumphantly above his head.
The comedic possibilities are a deep forest which went unexplored by a company sticking cautiously to the main road.
However, there are some really good actors in here and most of the venues are free. Go take a look and let me know how strongly you disagree with me.
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