Puwanarajah rarely opts for the easy laugh
Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s most performed comedies and when it comes to the back end of the year many turn to it as a seasonal offering, although the text makes no direct reference to Christmas. It depicts, however, a time for feasting and fun, writes Christopher Peacock.
The play, directed once again by Prasanna Puwanarajah after his sold-out run at Stratford-upon- Avon, opens when Viola finds herself shipwrecked and washed ashore at Illyria. Unable to find her identical twin brother Sebastian, she assumes he has died in the storm. He didn’t. Disguising herself as an impoverished gentleman ‘Cesario’, she gets work in the court of Duke Orsino where she falls for the Duke but catches the eye of Countess Olivia! Comical chaos ensues until her brother Sebastian arrives.
Are you keeping up?
Separate to the love triangles and crossdressing, there is mayhem among the household when perpetually drunk Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and servants Fabian, Maria, and the clown Feste, plot against Countess Olivia’s haughty steward Malvolio to humiliate him and drive him insane. Things classically unravel but happily resolve themselves. Phew!
From last year’s production only the role of Orsino has changed hands and Daniel Monks picks this up with a strong air of pomposity that plays further into the comedy. Samuel West as Malvolio was the strongest performance from a real top-tier cast. Without falling into any cartoonish extreme his descent via humiliation into madness is pitched perfectly. Another mention does have to go to Michael Grady-Hall’s Feste. The production plays into his role with new songs and visual gags aplenty.
Even with the great performances it is the design that wins the day. James Cotterill’s set and costume design is at its core a simple black box production highlighted with the modern dress. The impressive staging features a 20ft wide light box suspended above the stage, only to ease away to reveal an impressive organ with all the hiding places and passages necessary to enliven the farcical nature of the play.
There are moments where the cast yearn for a more responsive audience to aid the crowd work from Feste and his plentiful asides, but the pacing sometimes does not move at the same speed of the audience.
Running rather long, this production still impresses. Puwanarajah draws more than comedy from the text by highlighting the sadness and depth in scenes, while rarely opting for the easy laugh.
Barbican Theatre, Silk St, Barbican, EC2Y 8DS until 17th January.
Booking and full details: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/
