|
The Cornishman Review
6 September 2007
Sweet Slice of trickery
Say “what you Will” but it is likely that Will Shakespeare, could he be here, would be the first to appreciate the irony of the fact, at this late stage in the season and at the end of the wettest summer for years, that the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Theatre Company should have enjoyed one of the finest Monday nights yet for the opening of its Twelfth Night.
As if in answer to Orsino’s bidding “If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it”, while refraining from going over the top, director Ann Courtney, who also treads the boards as the mischievous and manoeuvring Maria, comes up with an unhurried, determined and direct version of this “improbable fiction” which, courtesy of composer Andy Taylor; has plenty of the former and, by the way of the Bard, an abundance of the latter. As suggested by the topiarian cockerels that grow but don’t crow in this Illyrian garden, it is also beautifully bawdy, has pleasing set pieces, from the singing and dancing “Holding their peace” trio to the celebrated garden scene, and is extremely well played by its cast of eight, several of whom double and treble with speed and skill, and all of whom give every word its due weight.
They also manage to make one laugh which, while this tale of midsummer madness, of multiple intrigues and mistaken identities, is less dark than some of Shakespeare’s comedies, is no mean feat.
|
|
| |
Twelfth Night 2007 Production (William Shakespeare) |
|
All the classical comedy ingredients are here; confusion between twins, drunken revellers, ill conceived love matches, disguise, deception, fools, idiots and tricksters.
Twelfth Night is a mad mayhem of holiday revelry, where the world seems upside down and misbehaviour is the order of the day. (That’s if the hard faced steward, Malvolio doesn’t succeed in enforcing decorum.)
Mad Dogs bring you their boisterous best in what is described by many people as one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies.
Ann Courtney, Writer/Director
|
| |
|
Cast and Crew |
| |
Stephan Drury:
Orsino/Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Sara Jane Derrick:
Viola
Adam J Carpenter:
Sebastian/Fabian
Paul Preston Mills:
Feste/Valentine/Antonio
Ann Courtney:
Maria
Mark David Nash:
Sir Toby Belch/Curio
Nick Murray Brown:
Malvolio/Sea Captain/Priest/Officer
Rebecca Perry:
Olivia
Prduction Team
Ann Courtney:
Director
Kaja Holloway:
Administrator
Mark Lancaster:
Stage Manager
James Payton:
Design
Andy Taylor:
Composer
Sarah Williams:
Costume
Rachel Shorten:
Costume
|
| |
It is as fresh as it is funny. While Adam J Carpenter (Sebastian), Ann Courtney (Maria), Sara Jane Derrick (Viola), Stephan Drury (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Paul Preston Mills (Feste), Mark David Nash (Sir Toby Belch) and Rebecca Perry (Olivia) are all good, it is Nick Murray Brown who, as the seemingly 10ft tall, aloof and austere, coolly commanding, smiling and ‘Sick of self love’ Malvolio, steals every scene he is in.
When he eventually receives his come-uppance, he enlists our sympathy pointing the finger at the cruelty of his companions, at the way he has been “notoriously abus’d” by them, at the nasty way in which they have pulled his yellow-stockinged and cross gartered leg, and leaves one wishing him well in his pursuit of revenge on “the whole pack” of them.
Altogether as sweet a slice of “Theatrical trickery” as one could wish for; the weather forecast suggests that the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Theatre Company is lucky and it is unlikely to “raineth every day” this week. At the same time its Twelfth Night is likely “to please every day”.
Frank Ruhrmund
|
|
