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Theatre listings > Twelfth Night. - Tour. Playwright - William Shakespeare. Director - Patrick Mason. Set & Costume Design - Mike Britton. Lighting Design - Howard Harrison. Music - Conor Linehan. Sound - Richard Price . Company - Theatre Royal Plymouth & Thelma Holt. Company Website. Cast - here . Venue - Theatre Royal Glasgow www.theatreroyalglasgow.com 0141 332 9000. Dates - 25 - 29 October at 7:30pm Mats on Thurs & Sat at 2:30pm. 2005 Tour Dates and Times - here . Seen to review at Theatre Royal Glasgow on 25 October 2005. Run Time - hours mins including 15 mins interval no Interval. Reviewer - Jay Dee. Some excellence in lacklustre piece.
Introducing the play, a blue lit gauze is highlighted with the words “what you will”, Shakespeare’s other title for the play. Wandering Jester Feste appears, in funereal dress and pulled back the curtain to reveal a gorgeous and versatile set; a huge white chamber strewn with autumn leaves which easily transforms from Orsino’s marbled halls to Olivia’s elegant garden. Sadly, this clever design is one of the few highlights of an otherwise dull and, at times, turgid production. Twelfth Night is a play which switches constantly between extremes of slapstick humour and heart breaking sadness. One of the chief failures of this production is its inability to realise these shifts: neither comedy nor tragedy is realised fully. There are some excellent performers in the cast. Christopher Harper as the young twin Sebastian speaks the verse naturally and with real feeling. Christopher Benjamin is well cast as drunken Sir Toby Belch and Roger Barclay delivers a lively performance as his sidekick Sir Andrew Aguecheek. There is also a large supporting cast who are woefully underused. At times the director seemed unsure of what to do with such a large cast and young actors with obvious potential are allowed to do little more than decorate the set. Honeysuckle Weeks struggles through her Viola with a gawky physicality which just about works when she is in disguise as the young soldier Cesario but is wholly inappropriate the rest of the time. Matthew Kelly, the show’s big selling point, appearing as Malvolio delivers less a performance than a caricature. With a better director he may have been wonderful but here his Malvolio engenders none of the sympathy that this character’s spiteful treatment deserves. This is a production lacking in pace, energy, commitment and directorial vision. It is such a shame that a clearly talented company with huge resources should produce such a lacklustre piece of theatre. © Jay Dee 25 October 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Cast - Roger Barclay - Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Christopher Benjamin - Sir Toby Belch, Paul Benzing - Priest, Anita Booth - Maria, Bob Cryer - Orsino, Rebecca Egan - Olivia, Christopher Harper - Sebastian, Matthew Kelly - Malvolio, Hilton MacRae - Feste, Paul Stewart - Antonio, Honeysuckle Weeks - Viola, Suzanne Marston & Rebecca Pownall - Ladies in Waiting to Olivia, Ben Crystal - Curio, Christopher Logan - Silvio & First Officer, Neil Jones - Valentine & Second Officer, 2005 Tour Details of Theatre Royal Plymouth's production of Twelfth Night. Tour continues 25 - 29 October at 7:30pm Mats on Thurs & Sat at 2:30pm Glasgow Theatre Royal 0141 332 9000. 1 - 5 Nov at 7:30pm Wed & Sat Mats at 2:30pm Edinburgh King's Theatre 0131 529 6000. 8 - 12 Nov Tues – Thurs at 7.45pm, Fri & Sat 8pm also Mats: Thurs & Sat 2.30pm Guildford Yvonne Arnaud 01483 44 00 00. 15 - 19 Nov at 7:30pm Mats on Thurs & Sat at 2:30pm Norwich Theatre Royal 01603 63 00 00. Tour ends. Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is thelma@edinburghguide.com Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors or omissions. Theatre listings >
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