Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Siena Jackson -Wolfe
Oxford Rep’s modern production of Twelfth Night is a valiant attempt to offer a contemporary staging with smartphones used to convey messages and characters given new gender identities – including a female Malvolio – and more fluid sexuality. But the company, performing at the Hen & Chickens Theatre, never finds its own point of view on the play beyond these surface changes with sketchy character delineation and a fast-paced approach that requires some knowledge of Shakespeare’s text and scenario to put the pieces together.
This adaptation, running at a little over two hours including an interval, isn’t quite sure how it wants to interpret the complicated disguises and romance plots that motor the drama, particularly when so much trickery is involved. Helping the audience – some of whom may never have seen the play before – to keep track of the people in disguise, who they love, who loves them and who is being fooled into declaring a secret affection no one wants is essential and not easy, yet Oxford Rep’s approach lacks clarity about who is doing what to whom and why.
Part of that is about pacing and space to establish the different strands of the story, which is often challenging here. Groups like Sir Toby Belch (Flynn Ivo), Sir Andrew Aguecheek and co are roaring Made in Chelsea lads that gabble through their motivations with considerable bluster, while Olivia and Orsino are barely present. Only Malvolia is given any real time to explore the coded message she receives – a chance for actor Kate Harkness to establish the peculiarities of the character, her prissiness and arrogance, in a welcome moment of pause which allows the comic performance to flourish. And later in the play, there is great sympathy for the stricken Malvolia as she tearfully threatens a revenge you hope she is able to enact.
There are some ideas here that have been tried before; the National Theatre’s 2017 version of the play has a female Malvolio, while the recent effort at Shakespeare’s Globe also attempted a same-sex connection between Antonio and Sebastian that stutters to a stop when tradition takes him into Olivia’s home, but the Oxford Rep company blend these choices into their show with ease. However, elsewhere the language is rushed, actors say the words but don’t necessarily understand them, or at least take the time to fully convey their poetic meaning, releasing some of Shakespeare’s most pointed reflections on love, shame and family connections to underpin the emotional beats of the story.
There are lots of ideas here, including having two musicians occasionally accompany the story, either providing a score for the songs that sit within the play or to provide a soundtrack for some of the dramatic moments, so more consistency in when these techniques are applied and why would help to guide the audience through the complex plot and large cast of characters. There is a lot to balance in Twelfth Night, so deciding what they would like to emphasise – the comedy characters or the lovers, the disguises or the cruelty – will help Oxford Rep develop this further.
Runs until 18 September 2025
