Have appreciated Shakespeare's work for a long time. 'Twelfth Night' was one of my first Shakespeare plays. Actually along with 'Macbeth' it was the play that introduced me to and got me into his plays, through reading the text out loud in English class, while analysing the language as we went along. As a young adult, it's still one of my favourites of his. The story is complicated but lots of fun and charming, it has heart, memorable characters and moments and a lot of quotable lines.
There have been a lot of entertaining to brilliant productions of 'Twelfth Night'. That is including this one from Stratford, which is nothing short of wonderful in almost every area. Like all of the filmed Stratford Shakespeare productions, such a good job is done with satisfying traditionalists and those familiar with the play already. But equally such a good job is done with making the mix of comedy, romance and drama accessible for those not familiar without trying too hard. Doing everything in good taste, with no too heavily relied upon conceits or confused settings yet with plenty of personality to avoid it being too safe.
Almost everything works. First and foremost, the costumes and sets are truly beautiful, nothing cheap about them and the period is discernible. The music is charmingly tuneful, fits the atmosphere and period adeptly, authenticity not being in question. The rendition of "Come Away Death" is a thing of sheer beauty. Loved the intimate but also interactive ambience, it did feel like you were in the venue and witnessing how Shakespeare's plays were performed in his day.
Shakespeare's writing is typically a great mix of funny and touching, delivered expertly here. The comedy is genuinely funny and often hilarious, with particularly Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. The drama/more emotional moments are very poignant and have a lot of heart. The romance has a lot of charm and sweet wit, the love can be felt. The story is easy to follow and staged in a way that's accessible, always tasteful and high in entertainment value and charm and never too safe or over-faithful.
Very little bad can be said about the cast. Mike Shara is a dashing Orsino and Sara Topham is moving and graceful. Andrea Runge's Viola is easy to endear to and is characterised charmingly. Ben Carlson never overplays Feste while still being a lot of fun, and the more musical elements of the performance have a good deal of pathos. It is the comedic parts where the best acting comes from, Brian Dennehy steals every scene he's in and manages to make a lout like Sir Toby hilarious and charming (not always easy). Stephen Ouimette is also a joy as Sir Andrew and Tom Rooney is an adept mix of haughty and hilariously foolish as Malvolio.
Did find Trent Pardy's Sebastian somewhat bland, but that is the only criticism pretty much to me.
In conclusion, wonderful. 9/10.
