Twelfth Night, or What a Carry On!
by Will Shakespeare
Oriel Gardens, 8-12th June 2004, Daedalus Theatre Company & Oriel Drama Society

Inspired perhaps by a certain style of comedy, and missing not a single double entendre, Twelfth Night at Oriel is a hearty mixture of funny faces and inadvertent nudity. Featuring a mix of musical styles from blues to barbershop (sung Castrati), the play tells a convoluted tale of love, spiced up with a good measure of cross-dressing and mistaken identity.

With excellent comic performances by the whole cast, the vivid facial contortions of Gethin Anthony (Malvolio) and Chris Milsom (Sir Toby Belch) are particularly memorable. Elisabeth Gray turns Lady Olivia into a surprising comic star, as her mournful composure changes to predatory pout when she falls for Viola disguised as a boy. Priapic Duke Orsino, played lasciviously by Chip Horne, also fancies Viola - disguised as a boy - and is relieved to find that she is, after all, a girl - or is he? It's all good camp fun.

There's no room for the cliché of the wistful clown in this production. An accomplished fool, Heman Ojha (Feste the Clown) sings, plays guitar and mouth accordion and makes witty repartee, and also does a good impression of an American evangelical preacher. Ned Dalby (Sir Andrew Aguecheek) also cuts a very fine caper, along with Fabian, played as a country yokel (with some very up-to-date dance moves) by Kieran Pugh, as another member of the gang. Slapstick peaks when Aguecheek, Feste and Belch fool along to the blues.

With a hey ho, even the Wind and the Rain of an Oxford summer evening couldn't put a dampener on this bawdy play!

Nancy Gladstone 11/06/04