5 December – 18 January

Prasanna Puwanarajah presents a production which touches Shakespeare at various points whilst giving us an (dread word) updated bard in a land no one could recognize, but says loudly, ‘This is today’. This Illyria is the land of wannabes: Orsino (Bally Gill) seems to have everything, but wants to be in love, something which eludes him. In its place he cultivates obsession. He has his retainers dance around, like teenage girls dancing with each other in their bedrooms whilst dreaming of dancing with attentive boys, elegantly turned out with impeccable manners. Olivia (Freema Agyeman) elegantly cast in svelte widow’s weeds and the latest nails is every inch a successful ‘influencer’, not knowing quite what she wants other than to be left to luxuriate in her mourning. That is until the thing she didn’t know she wanted until it slapped her in the face, appears in the form of Cesario/Viola (Gwyneth Keyworth) sending her off in full pursuit.  Viola on the other hand wants to be herself whilst her brother, Sebastian (Rhys Rusbatch) seems to have landed on his feet in this mysterious land and wants only for hope to be realized in being reunited with his sister.

Sir Toby is played by, Joplin Sibtain, as the kind of drunken lout that gives nobs a bad name. Little he does merits anything other than justified censure by Malvolio (Sam West) who is, to borrow from Lear, ‘more sinned against than sinning’. Toby just wants an easy life of debauchery. His gull, Sir Andrew (Demetri Goritsas) perhaps the complete wannabe, wants to be loved, wants to be in the in-crowd whilst lacking the nous to discern the good from the bad. Lacking judgment he is easy prey for the unscrupulous.

Dutiful and precise servant, Malvolio, endeavours to do a good job for his mistress whilst in his private moments wants to improve his station in life. His vanity in thinking himself worthy of such advancement makes him an easy mark for some cruel fun. Yellow stockinged with some kind of bondage support system he is the very model of a fool.

With his ‘access all areas’ pass of the licensed fool, Feste (Michael Grady-Hall) looking as if he’d just put some wet fingers into an electric socket, wants little more than the ear of a listener to point out the follies and imperfections of Illyria. His touching last song, set to music by Matt Maltese, leaves a melancholy note for the Christmas season.

James Cotterill’s set places Illyria firmly in the land of the surreal. The vast organ that dominates the stage for much of the play signifies I wot not, except perhaps the absurdity of excess. Indeed Mr Puwanarajah is liberal with his directorial conceits. Much larking around as with Feste turning the lights off with a large and inexplicable pull rope or with Sir Toby using him as a ventriloquist’s dummy remind us that the play is Christmas fare.

The production sparkles with inventive nuggets whilst showing us a strange and unfamiliar Illyria. 

★★★★☆    Graham Wyles   13 December 2024