Great National Theatre Live production! For me, the test with Shakespeare productions is always this: does the language still come across clearly to me even if I haven’t read the play recently? This one passes with flying colors.
When Viola survives a shipwreck, she finds herself vulnerable in a strange city, her twin brother presumed dead in the storm. To protect herself, she disguises herself as a man and finds a job working for the Duke Orsino. Viola falls hard for the duke, but he himself is in love with a lady named Olivia. He sends Viola (as “Cesario”) to woo her, and of course, Olivia quickly falls for “Cesario”/Viola. What a tangled love web!
The set is minimal but both handsome and effective. A large wall with a staircase at either end revolves, and panels open and retract to become different Illyrian locales. The style is modern, ranging from Viola’s casual men’s look to Sir Andrew Aguecheek’s loud suits to Olivia’s chic mourning wear. I like the little bits of business thrown in between the scenes as the sets move, offering us additional quick glimpses at the characters’ lives.
Sometimes, productions are Shakespeare’s comedies are exhaustingly comic, with actors mugging to the audience like they have a laughs-per-minute quota they have to meet regardless of the content of the actual scene. This one is much more measured, playing the comedy deftly – the physical comedy is broad, the wordplay cheeky, the comic misunderstandings delightful – while giving the more dramatic moments room to breathe. Another thing I appreciate here is that “Viola loves Orsino, but he thinks she’s a dude!” and “Olivia loves ‘Cesario,’ but she doesn’t know she’s really a woman!” aren’t mined as inherent laugh riots in an uncomfortable way. Rather, a lot of the comedy comes from Viola’s frantic attempts to maintaining her cover, trying not to swoon too much over Orsino in his presence and trying to keep the handsy Olivia from discovering her true identity. Additionally, the queer-in-appearance-only comedy is complemented with some genuine queerness. Antonio is portrayed as more explicitly in love with Sebastian (which, come on, have you heard his lines? It’s not exactly a reach,) and Malvolio is gender-swapped to Malvolia, who still allows herself to be flattered into believing Olivia is in love with her. Oh, and Sebastian spends some time in a gay bar where a queen performs a musical rendition of Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” speech.
Lots of fine performances here. At the top of my list is Tamara Lawrance, who’s terrific as Viola/”Cesario.” She doesn’t overdo the “male” acting but is still perfectly convincing, and I get why Olivia would be into her. I also really like Tim McMullan as Sir Toby Belch. Additionally, the production includes a couple of the same actors from One Man, Two Guv’nors, who happened to be probably my favorite parts of that production: Oliver Chris (Stanley from Guv’nors) is effective as the lovesick Orsino, and Daniel Rigby (Alan from Guv’nors) makes an endearingly-funny Sir Andrew Aguecheek. The most familiar face here is Tamsin Grieg – I know she’s been in a lot of British comedy stuff, but I know her best as Mrs. Bates in the 2009 version of Emma – as Malvolia. Grieg does an excellent job, playing Malvolia’s rigid decorum to comic aplomb and then going all out in the gulling scenes.
Warnings
Sexual references/light sexual content, a little violence, language, drinking, and thematic elements (including gaslighting.)
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