On Stage: Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night is the latest play to receive Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s `outdoor summer’ treatment.

As a result there are plenty of modern songs, slapstick moves and laughs as the company again takes over St Kilda Botanical Gardens’ Rose Garden.

As is the case with most of the company’s summer theatre productions there are some major modifications to the Shakespearean original.

Several characters originally designated as males are played by females while the production is much shorter than is the tradition with a running time at around 90 minutes. And the play is set in Australia.

Twelfth Night tells of Viola (Stephanie Astrid John) who is separated from her twin brother Sebastian (Billy Thomas) in a shipwreck. Viola disguises herself as a boy, calls herself Cesario and becomes a servant to the Duke Orsino (Maxwell Simon).

Viola (disguised as Cesario) quickly becomes a favorite of Orsino, who makes Cesario his page. Viola finds herself falling in love with Orsino — a difficult love to pursue, as Orsino believes her to be a man.

At the same time Orsino is in love with Lady Olivia (Claire Warrillow) . As she is in mourning for her dead brother she refuses to entertain any proposals of marriage. Orsino sends Viola to court Olivia on his behalf, but the Countess falls in love with Viola believing she is a man. The love triangle is complete: Viola loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia and Olivia loves Cesario — and everyone is miserable.

Meanwhile Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby Belch (Karlis Zaid), gets drunk with his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Sebastian Li) and together with other members of the household plot to get even with Olivia’s dour, prudish steward Malvolio (Laura iris Hill) who they see as constantly trying to spoil their fun.  Then Sebastian turns up causing even more confusion and chaos.

In keeping with the play’s best-known quote: “If music be the food of love, play on”, the production features plenty of songs including When A Man Loves A Woman, I Want to Know What Love is, I Think I Love You, Wild Thing, You Make My Dreams Come True, Tubthumping and Shut Up and Dance.

Some songs are presented without music while one guitar supports several others. Colourful choreography accompanies  many of the songs. In what must be demanding roles given the open-air stage and interaction with the audience, the enthusiasm of the 13 cast members never wavers.

A number of cast members including Lucy May Knight, Emma Austin, Jacqueline Whiting, Joshua Gordon, Sonya Suares and Teresa Giansiracusa play several roles.

Thankfully, like other outdoor Melbourne Shakespeare Company plays, name tags form an important part of the production so the audience knows who is who.  This is especially important in Twelfth Night given mistaken identities are a key part of the play.

The production perfectly fits with the company’s passion for making Shakespeare accessible to all.

“Whether you love the depth of a full-length, language-driven interpretation or are looking for a light-hearted park performance, we strive to create something for everyone,” explains director Jennifer Sarah Dean.

“ Our contemporary musical adaptation honours the essence of the original while bringing it vibrantly into the present.”

The laughs during, and cheers after, the show suggested mixing the traditional with the more modern again has again worked a treat for the company.

Twelfth Night is playing at St Kilda Botanical Gardens until December 22. Visit the Melbourne Shakespeare Company website for more information and tickets.