TWELFTH NIGHT

By Diana Simmonds

July 28 2016

TWELFTH NIGHT – or What You Will, Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir St. 23 July-4 September 2016. Photography by Brett Boardman: above - Nikki Shiels and Damien Ryan; right: Keith Robinson

Twelfth Night is Shakespeare’s most divine comedy and one whose essential elements often go missing in productions that concentrate merely on laughs and silliness. Director Eamon Flack knows that, so, on the contrary, the tender threads of melancholy, love and longing that should underpin and make sense of the comedy are here as strong as you’re ever likely to encounter. The result is a sublimely human and joyous experience.

The play hasn’t been seen in Sydney in a while so, a reminder: a shipwreck separates twins Viola (Nikki Shiels) and Sebastian (Amber McMahon). When she is washed up alive on the coast of Illyria, Viola not only believes her brother is dead, but also realises if she is to survive she must discard her frocks and assume the identity of a young man. She calls herself Cesario and gets a job with Duke Orsino (Damien Ryan) who has decided he is in love with the Countess Olivia (Anita Hegh).

Unfortunately for him, she has decided to mourn the recent death of her father and brother and eschew fun and suitors for seven years. Orsino sends Cesario to intercede with Olivia on his behalf and when she claps eyes on the young fellow, the countess immediately forgets her resolve to be miserable and falls in love with him. However...Cesario has already fallen in love with her boss. It’s a bit of a pickle, even by Shakespeare’s standards.

Meanwhile, at the countess’s court, Olivia’s uncle and amiable soak Sir Toby Belch (John Howard) idles away the days – and most of the nights – in the company of a bottle and his pal, the monumentally silly Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Anthony Phelan). Between them, when bored, they taunt the countess’s steward, the excessively up himself Malvolio (Peter Carroll) and are aided and abetted in this endeavour by Olivia’s hyperactive serving woman Maria (Lucia Mastrantone) and Feste, her acid-tongued Fool (Keith Robinson).

When the not drowned Sebastian arrives with his rescuer and friend Antonio (Emele Ugavule) the scene is set for romantic mayhem. Olivia mistakes him for Cesario and Sebastian being a bloke, immediately falls for her anyway and asks no questions. The mischievous co-conspirators (see above) successfully tempt Malvolio into making an ass of himself by gulling him into believing the countess Olivia will love him if he smiles a lot and dons yellow stockings and cross garters. 

Among the many charms of Twelfth Night are the contradictions: some daft and some profound and all having resonance today when gender fluidity and social and moral inconsistency are the order of the day. At the same time, the yearning for love and truth, the melancholy of loss and dashed dreams, are pointed and poignant and made more so by the contrasting wicked and boisterous humour.

Eamon Flack has assembled a rich and skilled company of veterans and not-veterans and they are all excellent. Peter Carroll is at his best as the absurdly coquettish and earnest Malvolio and is given a solo moment that brings the house down and saves him having to steal scenes.

Keith Robinson – enticed back to the stage after an absence of more than a decade through illness – reminds us that (sorry, Geoffrey) it is he who was and is our most intelligent, most caustic, most humane, most generous and most inventive clown. His Feste is as uneasy as he is funny – the perfect Fool.

John Howard’s Sir Toby Belch is deliciously louche and, despite a codpiece that out-dongs Sir Les Patterson, is puckish and appealing and a terrific contrast to the capering dither of Anthony Phelan as Sir Andrew Aguecheek. The latter is less well-endowed in all respects and it is a mark of the astuteness of the production that cheap jokes are not made with his toupee – bravo.

As the would-be lover Orsino, it’s good to see Damien Ryan on stage again as his work as director of Sport for Jove has taken over in recent times. His is the tricky task of being the straight anchor around which all the nonsense revolves and he’s convincing and appealing – no wonder Viola has the hots for him.

And what a wonder is this Viola (Nikki Shiels) as she projects her own longing for Orsino into messages of his feelings for Olivia. Her strength and anguish as the boy-man Cesario is nuanced and credible, as is her response to the countess’s fervent advances. It’s funny and touching too. The same can be said of the countess Olivia: Anita Hegh is brittle, subtle, smart and comical by turn and at once – such a pleasure.

The other women are equally electrifying: Lucia Mastrantone is dynamite as the somewhat eccentric servant Maria; Amber McMahon makes perfect sense of Sebastian when not capering about as Fabian and Emele Ugavule is the soulful voice of the company.

Which brings us to the other vital element of this production: the creative team: Alan John’s music – sung live by Ugavule – is his best work in years (sound designer Caitlin Porter) as it brings out the moods and undercurrents of the action and harmonises with the sumptuous colours of the starkly simple set, designed by Michael Hankin. 

The lighting, by Nick Schlieper both accentuates and changes these moods – and places – again with simplicity and lavish use of colour. Think Elizabethan velvets, sunny days, rainbow afternoons, ghostly dreams – also suggested by costume designer Stephen Curtis’s witty outfits. 

Finally, along with the Aguecheek toupee, there is a scene that encapsulates all that is thoughtful, hilarious and emotionally unexpected about this Twelfth Night and it’s the sword skirmish between Sir Andrew and Cesario (fight director Scott Witt). It is the funniest, most realistic and most ridiculous ever and a highlight in an evening of highlights. 

The season includes performances at what Belvoir is calling “family friendly times”, so do the kids a favour and bring them along to see why Shakespeare is still killer entertainment after 400 years. Be prepared to laugh a lot and also have a lump in your throat and come out feeling a lot better than when you went in. Recommended.