Twelfth Night

This is one of Shakespeare’s most beautiful plays. He’s taken a classical tale and motif of twins separated by misfortune, in this case a shipwreck, and woven it into what is traditionally called a comedy, but what in fact is as brilliant a bitter/sweet examination of human love and sexuality as has ever been written.This is C Theatre’s?own adaptation and in the PR it’s described itself as 'melodrama meets vaudeville'. Once we establish that the two twins, unbeknownst to each other, are both in Illyria, the mayhem and complications can continue. Viola dresses as a boy to serve Duke Orsino, who is in love with the Lady Olivia, who has vowed not to love anyone as she is in mourning for her dead brother. Olivia then falls in love with the 'boy' Viola, and when she meets her brother Sebastian mistakes him for her and marries her. Got it?There’s much more to the play than that bald outline. This production has a framing device in which the six performers are established as Vaudeville type players. This leads to some pretty broad playing, particularly in the comedy scenes, but does little for the plays more romantic and very dark moments. Crucially, the Sebastian/Antonio plot is greatly reduced, which shows a basic misunderstanding of what the play is about. Antonio is totally in love with Sebastian, who is unable to return his affection. This is at the heart of this amazing play – everyone is in love with the wrong person at some time or other during it, and though it is resolved happily for most, some are not so lucky, including Antonio and the play’s greatest character, the deluded steward Malvolio.Though some of the acting is good, as is the singing, it is impossible to tackle this great emotional epic of a play in an hour. It’s badly cut – I know it very well, and I was confused so God help anyone coming to it to the first time. It’s a play about identity confusion, so adding a layer of baffling multi-casting isn’t doing the actors or audience any favours. Which begs the question why do it at all. There are so many shorter brilliant plays out there, and many more good ones which won’t be as damaged by adaptation and cutting virtually in half as this one is. At the heart of the play Feste the jester (one of the parts to transfer more favorably to the vaudevillian style) sings a song, the second verse of which begins 'What is love?'. Shakespeare’s original title for this play gives the answer: it’s 'what you will'.Though this production has its nice moments it never gets close to great themes such as that.