Oxford Castle and Prison’s Summer Shakespeare continues with Wild Goose Theatre’s irresistibly charming production of Twelfth Night, which runs until the 27th.
The company is no stranger to Shakespeare, - with nearly twenty years of productions under their belt - or indeed even Twelfth Night specifically, having staged it already at the festival in both 2010 and 2021. With a track record like that, you’d expect something great. Thankfully, your suspicions here would be proven correct.
Twelfth Night is one of those zig-zaggy Shakespeare comedies where the plot sounds far harder to grasp than it is. Twin brother and sister Viola and Sebastian (who, despite being fraternal twins, look remarkably alike) are separated in a shipwreck. Both believe the other to be dead. Viola disguises herself as a man so she can work as a page to the bachelor Duke Orsino, who is trying to win the affections of the fiery Olivia, a wealthy countess. When Viola, disguised as her male alter-ego, Cesario, delivers a message to Olivia, the latter falls passionately in love with her/him. Meanwhile, Viola’s own affections are rapidly being won by the charming Duke Orsino, creating a love triangle.
Elsewhere, Olivia’s rowdy, perpetually drunken uncle Sir Toby Belch leads a quartet of mischief, conspiring with Sir Andrew Aguecheek - a dim, moneyed friend of his and deluded would-be suitor of Olivia, as well as Olivia’s Jester Feste, and Gentlewoman Maria.
The four are tormented by Olivia’s pompous, Puritan steward Malvolio, and in turn, seek their revenge in the form of a very memorable prank.
On all fronts, hijinks ensues.
The play is more sitcom than romcom, to great glory. It’s a play of musical interludes and cross-dressing, mistaken identities and poor communication, and even an oddly impressive dance number. This adaption was a particular pleasure because of the cast’s ability to revel in the playfulness of plot.
Soundtracked by live, incidental keyboard music as well as the spritely guitar and singing of Feste the Jester (an excellently puckish Rosa Collins) and studded with great visual gags, from a teddy bear peeking out of a suitcase to a sleep-deprived Malvolio in a traditional nightcap, the play is powered by its own silliness.
It’s rare for the comic relief to not only translate so well to modern day, but to absolutely steal the show. Jordan Biche played Sir Andrew Aguecheek with such a foolish, sheltered sincerity he grabbed some of the biggest laughs of the night, while Richard Readshaw was fearlessly committed to his beer-chugging, publicly urinating part as Sir Toby.
With Fleur Yerbury-Hodgson’s Maria playing a much-needed straight man for balance, Readshaw, Bische, Collins and Yerbury-Hodgson made a merry team.
Meanwhile, I’ve never seen Billy Morton quite so delightful as he was as Malvolio in this production. Which is saying something, because Morton is a sort of
There’s a scene in the middle of the play that is the perfect marriage of eavesdropping slapstick and increasingly misguided monologue from Morton, which had the whole audience in stitches.Shakespeare monologues can become repetitive or onerous in the wrong hands, here, every word built to greater comedic effect and brought us to fits of laughter.
All the praise for the secondary cast should not discount the talents of the others, however. In the wrong hands, the verbose and quick-tempered Olivia could have grated or failed to convince. Here, Gretel Kahn’s take on her is hugely successful and entertaining because she is willing to be unabashedly goofy in both her adoration and contempt.
Hafeja Khanahm made a compelling, luminous Viola - seeming a tad nervous at the beginning of the evening (it was opening night) but found her feet as the evening went on. And her energy was well matched by her in-show twin George Bugler, who played Sebastian with a poised thoughtfulness.
Finally, a shout to Duke Orsino, aka Cyd Cowley. Like Khanahm, Cowley also radiates sincerity as an actor (he was the Romeo to her Juliet in last year’s show) and here channels it into a twinkly warmth that resembled Timothee Chalamet’s Wonka (this is a compliment).
If I had to have a critique, the steampunk set and costuming didn’t clearly add anything or tie-in to the piece in any way that I could see. It did, however, look incredibly stylish, so I can’t really complain.
I wasn’t familiar with the plot of Twelfth Night prior to the show, and I had a fantastic time. This was a truly wonderful, laugh-packed evening and I’d recommend the show to anyone.
