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I went to see the production of Twelfth Night on Saturday 3rd August and was thoroughly immersed and entertained throughout!
The acting was incredibly polished and focused. The effort from the cast and crew to fully understand and interpret the text during rehearsals was very evident in these fully realised performances. The Shakespearean dialogue was delivered exceptionally well and, combined with the stellar facial expressions and physicality of the entire cast, allowed everyone to understand the piece even if they’re completely unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s works. My only mild critique in terms of the acting was that a few lines in scene two came very, very close to being gabbled and this scene is obviously the big set up for the entire play. It admittedly did take me slightly longer than necessary to understand the agreement that Viola had made to masquerade as Cesario due to my not hearing all the dialogue in scene two. Despite this, both performers in scene two amended this in a huge way in their later scenes and more than made up for the slight hiccup in their initial scene.
The performers made excellent use of the space and succeeded in the ever challenging task of playing to an audience that are both in front of and to the left and right of them. It was very obvious how immersed the audience was and how much fun we were all having with the piece. This translated to the performers too as each one of them looked to be having the time of his/her life whilst they entertained us all. The fun the performers and audience were having was especially evident in the scene were Sir Toby and his entourage are hiding in a bush whilst eavesdropping on Malvolio. The laughs from the audience were constant and the facial expressions from all the actors (but particularly Amber Allen) in this scene and throughout were absolutely stellar.
My four stars of the show (it was incredibly difficult to narrow it down to just four as everyone was so brilliant) but I’m going with: Kieran Donnelly for his amazing portrayal of Sir Toby’s alcohol infused antics (as we all know, portraying drunkenness can very often feel forced and inauthentic, but not in this case), Next I’d like to commend Amber Allen for her absolutely stellar facial expressions and physicality throughout, my praise also to Peter John for his portrayal of the the inept Sir Andrew who’s nuanced humour made us feel both hilarity and even some pity for him when he was trapped in the giant foliage! Last but definitely not least, I must give my praise to Charlie Morgan for her faultless portrayal of Lady Olivia. She absolutely commanded the stage whenever she appeared.
In addition to the performance itself, I must also draw attention to the exceptional costume design work by Clockwork Firebird Designs (clockworkfirebird.com). The attention to detail, particularly the individual crests, was above and beyond what was necessary but really helped with truly immersing the audience in the world of the play. I was also very grateful for the insight into the rehearsals and preparation for the show that I received through the production’s extensive and effective marketing campaign. The beautiful photography of Evan Hill (twentyfourevan.com) and several in character costume shots really helped to build anticipation for the show.
Whilst on this topic, I must say that this ‘above and beyond’ mentality was very evident in every aspect of the show.
The warm and bubbly front of house woman was not only quick and professional but showed some personality and actually interacted with the people she was serving too! This same friendly and warm attitude was also shown by the director’s brief introduction, too. It actually felt genuine as opposed to just dictating the bog standard ‘no filming, discussing the show’s runtime etc.’ I also appreciated how an extra allowance of time was made during the interval until the majority of audience members were back in their seats as opposed to just rushing onwards.
If I were to have a few very, very minor critiques it would be that I thought more could have been done to make the seating more comfortable. I was sat in the second row behind the plastic chairs and found that I very nearly had to stand towards the end of the play’s two hour and ten minute runtime. Cushions were offered to the audience in the interval, but I personally feel these should have been given to us upon entry. Another idea could be just getting some long blanket-like material and placing this on the seating. Another very minor critique was that I noticed that the woman from front of house was taking some pictures/videos of the performance throughout. Whilst I am all for taking photos and videos for marketing purposes, I must confess that this was slightly distracting to me as I was sat almost directly behind her. Perhaps in future productions something along the lines of a Canon camera could be used to prevent the glare of a phone screen’s distractions. Again, these two issues were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things but they are two improvements I could suggest.
Another bit of food for thought was the live music (the music that played during transitions as opposed to the actual on stage music). I thought the fact that this music was played live (as shown in the marketing material) should have been flaunted more as it definitely added another layer of depth to the show. I do think this transition music could have had a bit more variety to it though. Whilst on the subject of music, I do think that the climatic sword fighting scenes could have used some music (whether live or through speakers) to add a bit more tension/atmosphere to go with the well choreographed fights.
My incredibly minor above critiques aside, I had an absolutely brilliant night’s entertainment at a very reasonable price! I may not be the biggest Shakespeare fan, but I enjoyed this production so much more than I thought I would and have even been inspired to once again try my hand at Shakespearean acting, now that I’ve seen how much fun the cast had AND how much fun the audience had!