Twelfth Night is the summation of seduction, intoxication, cruelty and chiefly: glittering over indulgence. This is one of Shakespeare’s hardest plays to communicate to an audience, be it with the contradicting themes, interweaving storylines and and the intermingled relationship of humour and horror, and yet the Oxford Rep Company's production did it outstandingly.
Ashton Court was the perfect place for this show, I felt I was taken right inside the
high society of Illyria. Once inside, it was cabaret seating, candles flickering
throughout the beautiful room with high ceilings and an inner cavern for the stage,
adorned with tapestries. This setting was complimented throughout through
emotive lighting and interluding music. The staging itself was exceptional,
simplistic and well done. They had the table of liquor, against the backdrop of the
band, and most striking and creatively they had two signposts, ‘Olivias’ and
‘Orsinos’ on opposite ends of the stage, which would be fluorescently lit up to
signify location. These, alongside the coat rack of costumes and the twisting font,
gave the feel of a chic cafe or downtown restaurant. The amalgamation of feelings
seen throughout this play served to elevate the the contradictory motives and
emotion this play deals in.
The cast was supremely well-selected, most notable in their performance being
Darcy Willing as Viola, Flynn Ivo as Toby Belch, Ethan Bareham as Feste and Kate
Harkness as Malvolia. The whole cast however was exceptional. The play took an
interesting approach to mixing modernity with classical Shakespeare, best seen in
Viola and Sebastian's characters. Darcy Willing brought the unselfconscious
good-natured hilarity that Viola commands to the stage, her cheeky delivery spot
on. One of the funniest scenes and best of Willing’s was Viola’s attempted
seduction of Olivia for Orsino, the chemistry of Harriet Noris and Willings
palpable and immensely enjoyable to watch, with an amusing rap attempt. The
other side of that particular coin - Sebastian - complimented Willing’s role
excellently. Sebastian, played by Luke Nixon, provoked ceaseless laughter. To
picture his character I recomend envisioning walking into a pres in freshers week
and meeting an overly loud guy from Brighton who found himself in Thailand, enjoys recreational drugs and can’t wait to flirt with you. His delivery, especially
that in the confusion between the two ‘Cesarios’ had the whole audience roaring
with laughter. Yet another noted for their hilarity is Ivo playing Toby Belch who
often goes under the radar in this play, a vaguely amusing drunk uncle you hope
to avoid at the family reunion, but in this performance Ivo stole the show in his
hilarious and charming performance of Toby, perfecting his drunken self-centred
mischief.
Entangled in the play’s hilarity and simultaneous overindulgence is, of course,
Feste the fool, who in my mind encapsulates the play in his character, and
Bareham’s stage presence was the most essential to this play's exceptionality. A
brilliant singer and actor, he had us all laughing and intrigued, but following
the arc of the play, became shockingly sinister and quite unnerving. Lending
particularly well to this effect was the decision to gender swap Malvolio, Harkness
playing Malvolia. She was haughty and ridiculous and then hilariously pathetic and then quite terribly afraid, the overtones of potential rape in the interrogation scene between her and Feste extending the darkness of this play. Feste and her
relationship succinctly communicated this play's intemperance.
This was one of the most enjoyable renditions of Twelfth Night I’ve seen and this
performance achieves the communication of the crux of Twelfth Night - what
happens when revelry goes too far.
Featured Image: Freddie Houlahan
Have you read Twelfth Night?
