Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
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Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
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‘If music be the food of love, play on’. And in Juliet Forster’s production of Twelfth Night, the music certainly did play on, to bring us a mellifluous, decadently dreamy performance of one of the most poignant of William Shakespeare’s comedies about mistaken identities, infatuation, love, confusion and revenge.
However, with Dawn Allsopp’s gorgeous, opulent setting, bathed in golden light, Forster’s production seemed to forget that Twelfth Night is also arguably one of Shakespeare’s darkest comedies, one which is shadowed by death, loss and cruelty.
It seemed to play strictly for laughs. On occasion, this was effective: Viola/Cesario’s cheeky glimpse of Orsino in the shower was a notable example. Yet, on the whole, the comic scenes failed to engender a constant source of uproarious laughter. The scenes between the motley crew of Sir Toby (Blair Plant) and Andrew Aguecheek (Paul Westwood), for instance, were exaggerated and laboured, lacking the control that would have prevented these episodes from descending into farce.
Indeed, there was little sense of equipoise in this production. Although Dick Bradnum as Malvolio did have an ease of comic delivery and received an abundance of laughs, he only just began to touch on the arrogant hauteur of his character, which I felt was needed to justify his cruel treatment at the hands of Maria, Fabian, Aguecheek and Toby. By contrast, Jade Anouka brilliantly portrayed the haughtiness of Lady Olivia, yet was not as convincing in expressing her feelings for Cesario.
Nevertheless, the confusion concerning Viola/Cesario’s identity was performed very well. This was due in no small part to Danielle King’s consistently resourceful and assured performance as Cesario. As those around her mistake her for her twin brother Sebastian, King was able to share the plot’s confusion with the audience. Moreover, King showed great versatility throughout as she played her part in the gender puzzle of this play, moving from a heartfelt reunion with Sebastian, to giddy elation at her union with Orsino and to vexation with Olivia.
Although Twelfth Night did begin with a compelling, vivid and innovative underwater film sequence, it lost momentum, giving us a safe, albeit inconsistent, take of this much-performed comedy.
Twelfth Night is on at the York Theatre Royal from 25 April- 16 May. Tickets are available from the Box Office on 01904 623568 or from the York Theatre Royal website.
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