If you’ve never seen Shakespeare performed Aussie style, this is your chance. Forget sitting for three to four hours as the play laboriously unfolds. Australian Shakespeare Company’s Graduate Players have reduced
A fine troupe of skilled actors pull off this outrageous romp with confidence and conviction
Shakespeare might have imagined Viola shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria, but this down-under version has her washed up at The Blue Topaz Resort on an island off the steamy coast of Queensland. But no worries; she’ll be right. It’s the hangout of Sir Toby Belch, who is either drunk or hungover; the answer to both being another drink. The comedy, of which there is plenty, mostly revolves around him and his scrounging ways with Sir Andrew Aguecheek, his bullying of Malvolio and his lust for Maria.
His is not the main story, however. At the heart of the play are gender-bending love stories, rampant with disguises and deceits. From beach-wear to fine costumes and beach-bums to aristocrats, it’s a riot of colour and confusion as mistaken identities cause havoc with all the romance that is in the air. Acts of good intention that initially seem like great ideas soon become extraordinarily convoluted, with multiple twists and turns before being resolved, so that almost everyone can live happily ever after on the love island.
It’s a major accomplishment to reduce the script to its bare essentials, while retaining the most famous lines, even if they are just the openings of otherwise long speeches that have been cut. At least we have the satisfaction of hearing the Bard’s most memorable words.
Throughout this fast-paced and farcical interpretation we also enjoy seeing a fine troupe of skilled actors pull off this outrageous romp with confidence and conviction. Play on!
