Twelfth Night
Despite its name, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night has practically nothing to do with Christmas. In fact, it begins with a shipwreck. Viola finds herself washed up on the shore of Illyria, her twin Sebastian lost at sea. Disguising herself as Cesario, she finds employment as servant to the Duke Orsino, who is persistently wooing the Countess Olivia.
Olivia is pleasantly surprised to find Cesario now bringing her messages from the Duke and falls in love with him instead. Meanwhile, Olivia's steward Malvolio, having admonished other members of the household, finds himself tricked into a display of eccentric behaviour towards Olivio, and she, thinking he is mad, has him locked away.
Sebastian, who was rescued by Antonio, arrives in Illyria and is mistaken for Cesario by Olivia. A wedding leads to further confusion and mistaken identity and the twins are eventually reunited and romantic entanglements straightened out.
Gwyneth Keyworth plays Viola/Cesario and is delightful to watch, she has a convincing 'male' persona whilst maintaining the innocence of her Viola. Michael Grady-Hall as Feste the Clown, Olivia's Jester, shows his many talents, singing and comically entertaining the audience.
Joplin Sibtain, as Sir Toby Belch and Danielle Henry, as Maria, both give strong performances. Alongside, Samuel West, as Malvolio, who gives a divinely simplistic portrayal and Freema Agyeman, as Olivia, who plays her part with great humour and owns the stage throughout her scenes.
Composer Matt Maltese adds a sense of miserable joy to the overall piece and James Cotterill's set and costume design alongside Prasanna Puwanarajah's direction add everything that is needed to this captivating performance.
The stories themes of acceptance and queer love are, although different to the day they were written, still highly relevant.
This is one of the best productions from the RSC in recent years and highly recommended for all to watch.
Twelfth Night, or What You Will....be doing is having a great night at the theatre!
This show was reviewed on the 12th December 2024 at The RSC, Stratford Upon Avon where it runs until the 18th January 2025. Tickets available here: Twelfth Night | Royal Shakespeare Company
Review written by Rachel Louise Martin
AD/Gifted
Photo credit: Helen Murray
Check out other reviews from Curtain Call Reviews and get in touch to have our reviewers head to your show.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.