Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night

From the moment you walk into Whistlestop Theatre’s visionary take on William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night you are plunged into its exceptionally immersive world.Eyelinered ushers welcome you to the club ‘Orsino’s’, exotically costumed characters stalk the stage and bring you to your seat, a babble of weaving voices laces the air. Before the play itself starts, characters walk amongst the audience, confiding their problems – one glamorous lady Olivia has been in mourning for seven years, the blue-eyed boy is looking for his sister, Count Orsino is besides himself with love for Olivia who cannot entertain his suit through her grief.

 


It’s a startlingly original approach, both to Shakespeare and to theatre in general, and a fantastic introduction to the performance in a pre-play beginning period that is traditionally filled with awkward waiting and hushed whispers. A wave of energy and momentum is built up which the actual production smoothly crescendos into, with our lovesick Duke Orsino (played by a thoroughly suave Scott Clee), his face slashed with emerald paint, uttering the famous lines ‘if music be the food of love, play on…’

Directors Leah Cooper and Rebecca Hewett have done a fabulous job of reinvigorating an extremely familiar text into a fresh concept set in the sleazy, sexually subversive Soho that we are right now in danger of losing. Every character, from Emma Read’s mischevious, androgynous Feste to Cael King’s Indian accented Sir Andrew Aguecheek (an intriguing touch), is dressed and imagined to perfectly accentuate the darkly carnival-esque realm. Performances are filled with energy and romp-like comedic timing, with just the right lacing of acerbic camp at particular points. Cooper’s Olivia is a mercurial, multi-faceted creation, flitting from haughty lady of the house to coquettish minx in the flirtatious wink of a mascara’d eye.

Twelfth Night is a play done so often it can be a difficult text to master, but Whistlestop Theatre have achieved a highly successful production to their credit. Perhaps there is a little too much sitting down in the first half when the action lulls, but that should not put you off enjoying this original, funny and vital reimagining of Shakespeare.

 

• The Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane, Peckham, SE15 4ST. Mon-Sat, 7.30pm. £12 (£10 concessions), £5 Mondays. Running until 22nd February. 

 

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