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With all the lush romanticism going on over at Shakespeare Theater's Harman Center, you'd think it were Valentine's Day, not the Christmas season.
Director Rebecca Bayla Taichman's production of Twelfth Night is one big over-the-top ode to love, and the result is delightful rather than saccharine. The set's backdrop is all dramatic, supersized roses, and petals cascade from the ceiling each time a character becomes lovestruck (an effect that initially seems schmaltzy, but is later done with enough tongue-in-cheek zest to woo any cynic). The mood is set through Miranda Hoffman's glorious costumes as well, with grief-struck Olivia's attendants shifting from black gowns to brilliant red in the second act, and the newly-smitten mourner herself donning a different bright colored dress in each subsequent scene.
Taichman has not only color to play with as an expressive tool; music weaves throughout this production, from melancholy little ballads from the court's fool (the masterful Floyd King) and frequent, lovely accompaniment coming from a soprano in the rafters (Stacey Cabaj). It's perhaps not surprising; after all, this is the work which opens famously with the ever-quotable "If music be the food of love, play on!", uttered by a distraught, enamored Orsino (Christopher Innvar).
Twelfth Night, Shakespeare's comedy of twins, mistaken identity and practical jokes, is arguably the Bard's silliest play, and even while this production emphasizes the romance, it also pays keen attention to making the most of comedic moments. Much of the slapstick falls in the hands of the prancing, sputtering Tom Story as Sir Andrew Aguecheek; Story seems to be making quite the career for himself this year out of increasingly foppish characters. Adding to the laughs is Ted van Griethuysen as the much put-upon Malvolio, but Griethuysen surprises by making his laughingstock particularly heartrending — just try not to get a little choked up as Malvolio gleefully "discovers" his mistress loves him, knowing that it's all just a vengeful joke.
Much of the fun of Twelfth Night is seeing the distraught Olivia quickly transform into a simpering state once she falls for the messenger (Samantha Soule) of the man who courts her, whom we know is actually a woman in disguise. As Olivia, Veanne Cox, always an actress to throw herself into a role without vanity, commits herself fully to the amusing desperation of Olivia's state. Soule's impersonation of a man is just convincing enough to be buyable while still feminine enough to credibly warrant the confused attentions of Orsinio, even if her constantly grinning and laughing visage seems occasionally out of place. It's a treat to see her and Innvar play off each other; after her true identity is revealed, he begins to unwrap her garments as if part of a dance, a perfect mischievous touch in this impishly sexy play.
Twelfth Night runs through Jan. 4 at Shakespeare Theatre's Harman Center. Tickets are available online.
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Well played! You caught the things that I both enjoyed (Ms. Cox's performance, melancholy songs of Feste) and the things that caught me off guard (cheesy petals at the beginning, strange continuous grinning by Ms. Soule.) I wasn't fond of the set design, but overall, it was a wonderful evening at the theatre.
saw this last week and the sets/casts were amazing! probably the best shakespearean play i've seen performed, but i haven't seen tons. i'm definitely going to more now.
note: if you're under 35, you can get tickets for $10 opening weeks - they usually run $50/pop.
I haven't seen the play yet (will next week), but I went to the windows discussion on Saturday. The director said she was actually trying to emphasize the sadness and grief in the play, not the comedy. Interesting how people interpret things differently!
We saw it last week, and it was amazing. The only other time I've seen Twelfth Night performed was by a troupe of 5, playing multiple roles. It was nice to see it done by a full cast with an array of sets and props.
I definitely noticed the comedy being portrayed better than the tragedy, but overall it was very well done. Very amusing to recognize so many of the cast from Way of the World in varying roles as well. It was actually a little hard to believe Olivia at first, since I kept picturing her in a vastly different role, but she did overcome that quickly to me.
Very worth it! Also, Malvolio and Jeste made the play for me.
~EEE~
Wow. Well, I guess someone had to like it. I saw this last week and thought it was one of the worst plays I've seen at Shakespeare Theatre. Twelfth Night is a play that lives or dies based on its acting, and it was a fairly dreadful performance. Half of the cast mumbled their lines, and the performances were so unconvincing that I gave some serious thought on leaving at intermission — and I made it through Tamburlaine, for pete's sake.
(Others in the audience, however, clearly decided to get the heck out of dodge. The audience numbers didn't drop like flies as they did in Tamburlaine, where over 20% of the people at closing night left, but there were some noticeable gaps in the audience as the lights started to go down for the second half last Thursday.)
The staging and costumes were beautiful, I'll give the production that. But in terms of actual direction it was fairly disastrous; when I found myself yearning to travel back in time and instead view Shenandoah Shakespeare's production of Twelfth Night from 13 years ago, well... not good.
@ gregmce: How could you not love Tamburlaine? Are you a woman? It was like an action movie with visceral poetry and no bs character development. Just a man taking over the world in the most hardcore manner possible. I saw it twice.
And I saw that Twelfth Night production you're talking about. It was terrible. Shenandoah Shakespeare was pandering, overacted "fun!!!" aimed at elementary school students. Strictly middlebrow. The real production to beat would be Shakespeare Theater's show from oh about seven years ago (?). Floyd King as Malvolio. The audience was laughing like it was a production of Borat: The Musical.
I think the problem with STC's first week of production is that it's still a "preview week," though not prevalently advertised as such.
@kilpatricka: King was Malvolio 20 years ago, and though I was 9, I still remember it vividly. In the Twelfth Night production 10 years ago, King was Sir Andrew. Oh and Fran Dorn as Maria and Sabin as Sir Toby. Oh those were the days...that were ruined by that charlatan Kelly McGillis! Ugh!
Oh no wait, you're totally right, I've reversed the plays in my mind, even though the production with Dorn/Sabin/King as the malevolents is far fresher in my mind than the the more recent one with King as Malvolio, he's the only thing I remember from that production...