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.
This 'Twelfth Night' is an absolute joy from start to finish, one of the best 'Twelfth Night' productions seen and one of the funniest. It was fascinating seeing it done with an all male cast, which is what always happened in Shakespeare's day, and rewarding to see it done so brilliantly. Mark Rylance was also a major selling point, he became a favourite after watching 'Wolf Hall', and have also loved a lot of Stephen Fry's work. Neither disappoint.
Really liked the production values, which are traditional and tasteful in costumes and sets as well as sumptuous. The vast class divide that was present at the time is obvious too in the costumes. The video editing is clever and intimate, while not being claustrophobic. Personally didn't think that the authentic audience reactions were gimmicky at all and gave a sense of what it would have been like to be there at the time.
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. Also not too dry, very easy to make Shakespeare dry when traditional.
All the performances are superb, especially from unrecognisable Rylance at his most riotous as the most refreshing and interesting interpretation of Olivia seen anywhere (while also not forgetting her pathos). Close behind is Fry, an adept mix of haughty and hilariously foolish as Malvolio without being too much of an idiot. Johnny Flynn is a very charming Viola/Cesario, some may say he is not believable as a woman but that didn't matter to me as Viola's true identity is only shown like twice in the play. And more importantly because a woman being believable as a man is much more important for 'Twelfth Night' and this is one of the few productions to nail that aspect. Colin Hurley and the late Roger Lloyd Pack are also hilarious, making a lout hilarious and charming is not easy but it comes very naturally to Hurley.
Concluding, absolutely wonderful and a joy. 10/10.
