Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Robin Belfield
Shakespeare’s Globe have really pushed the budget for their late summer production of Twelfth Night and hired a stuntman to perform Pearce Quigley’s double cartwheel as Malvolio. It is a moment of high energy and apt disguise in a restrained version of the play that takes a while to set all of its plots and deceptions in motion. Direction by Robin Belfield with a typically dour turn from Quigley, the production is holding back, unable to release the more raucous subtext brewing beneath the surface.
All of the traditional plot elements are in place, the shipwrecked twins Viola (played by Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́ – a coup for the theatre) and Sebastian (Kwami Odoom barely appearing until the second half), the mixed up love affairs as individuals fall for women disguised as men, the inter-class relationships and mistaken identities that cause confusion, while the ‘comedy’ characters take centre stage in an attempt to sustain their drunken liberated lifestyle. In every core respect. Belfield’s approach retains the purity of Shakespeare’s text and, as ever at the Globe, relies on innovation in setting and costume rather than completely reimagining the play itself.
There is a gender swap. The still named Toby Belch is now Lady Belch (Jocelyn Jee Esten) and a same sex kiss appears in a scene between Sebastian and friend Antonio that develops into nothing and is instantly forgotten, but it is Jean Chan’s set that creates most of the spectacle, placing a detached platform in the courtyard to depict the shipwreck location that spurs the action while the image of Illyria is a colourful carnival, alive with bright prints and vibrant shades, most notably greens, red and gold that hint at a party that never quite gets going – typified by the abortive stop-start dance introduction to the second half of the play in which Jos Vantyler’s harlequined fool Feste continually interrupts the action.
Belfield directs a leisurely production with little sense of haste or the frantic misunderstandings that leave the characters with little time to reflect. It means the lovers get short shrift. Orsino (Solomon Israel) has too little stage time to really underpin Viola’s devotion, and while Laura Hanna has fun with Olivia unknowingly in love with Viola in disguise, the declarations and desperations of love are filler for the central jestings of Blech and Quigley’s much put-upon Malvolio.
Malvolio here is played sympathetically, unfairly maligned by the aristocrats and maid Maria who contrive to make him look ridiculous, and Quigley adds plenty of physical comedy, including some unexpected gross-out scenes that play to the crowd. There are some moments of audience interaction in the comedy scenes with a couple selected to dance a can-can with the cast on stage and even some hair stroking as the comedy characters draw in anyone within reach, but sometimes this is at the expense of plot clarity so even those who know the play well may be unsure why Cesario (Viola’s alter ego) is having to fight Sir Andrew Aguecheek having never met him before.
Belfield also tends to direct actors to stand on opposite sides of the stage, which provides good aural coverage for the tricky open-air auditorium but does little to enhance the intimacy of the love scenes or suggest any sort of family life – for the audience it becomes a tennis match, swivelling heads from side to side to catch the speaker. This Twelfth Night jollies along, and Chan’s visual approach is striking, but beyond the cartwheels, this is a fairly traditional view of the play with a carnival that fails to come alive.
Runs until 25 October 2025
