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A CurtainUp Review
Twelfth Night
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Cheek by Jowl's All Male Twelfth Night Comes to Brooklyn As if it weren't enough to present Shakespeare's popular play as an all male production, theater goers now have a chance to see how Shakespeare— the linguist of linguists— plays in Russian with super titles. In 2004 British theater goers, including our London critic, Charlotte Loveridge, heartily endorsed the attempt by director Declan Donnellan to give theater goers a reason to see Twelfth Night yet another time. For just a few more days, New York audiences will have a chance to see this fresh approach to Shakespeare's bittersweet comedy. Audiences so far seem to share the Londoners' enthusiasm. So get thee to Brooklyn before the production moves on. Here are the production notes for the traveling production, followed by the original review. TWELFTH NIGHT By William Shakespeare Directed by Declan Donnellan Performed in Russian with English titles Cast: Vladimir Vdovichenkov (Orsino), Sergey Mukhin (Sebastian), Mikhail Zhigalov (Antonio), Vsevolod Boldin (a sea captain), Yury Makeev (Valentine), Mikhail Dementiev (Curio), Alexander Feklistov (Sir Toby Belch), Dmitry Dyuzhev (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Dmitry Shcherbina (Malvolio), Igor Yasulovich (Feste), Alexey Dadonov (Olivia), Andrey Kuzichev (Viola) and Ilia Ilyin (Maria). Designed by Nick Ormerod Lighting by Judith Greenwood Assistant director, Evgeny Pisarev Choreographer and movement consultant: Jane Gibson A Chekhov International Theater Festival of Moscow production, presented by the 2006 Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music at the BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, (718) 636-4100. Through November 12, 2006 Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes plus an intermission. |
—The Original review
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Youth's a stuff will not endure.
---- Feste |
from bottom, Dmitry Dyuzhev as Aguecheek, Sergey Mukhin as Sebastian, Alexander Feklistov as Sir Toby, Igor Yasuovich as Feste and in the background, Alexey Dadanov as Olivia
(Photo: Keith Pattison) |
Every director of Twelfth Night must decide how to navigate the play's fine line between tragedy and comedy. Declan Donnellan establishes this as an integral dialectic in his production and shifts between light and dark with originality and sincerity. The design echoes this, with an entirely black and white colour-scheme. The normally hilarious dupe played upon Malvolio (Dmitry Shcherbina) is here turned into an agonisingly cruel trick as the solemn steward reads Maria's letter in tears, in the excruciating belief that his fondest fantasies are to be fulfilled. Sir Toby's comment (as translated by the surtitles): "Thou hast put him in such a dream that he must run mad" aptly captures Malvolio's painfully intense delusion. However, Donnellan then subverts Malvolio's final sour line into a comic coup. As the united lovers dance and accept glasses of champagne from the steward, he whispers his vindictive "I'll be reveng'd on the whole pack of you" in an aside.
The cast are excellent and Cheek by Jowl must be delighted to demonstrate this exemplary acting on an international tour. In particular, Andry Kuzichev is an endearing Viola, who assumes a haphazard masculine swagger as Cesario and has continual difficulty buttoning up her male jacket. Alexey Dadanov plays Olivia with immaculate poise yet genuine feeling. The relative reasonableness of Malvolio gives the vodka-quaffing Sir Toby (Alexander Feklistov) and his set an extra edge of malice. This undercurrent of sinister violence in the comedy is very effective, such as when Sir Toby shockingly hits Maria (Ilia Ilyin) to the floor for chiding him and then plies her with alcohol and cigarettes in recompense. Feste (Igor Yasuovich) is rather hapless and has none of the insight into Cesario's ambiguity which he is sometimes played with. However, when given a microphone, this Feste is a truly charismatic singer-performer. The unfortunately patchy surtitles sacrifice some of the verbal wit of Feste's scenes but the physical comedy more than makes up for this. Antonio (Mikhail Zhigalov) is given more prominence here and is emphatically excluded from the happy ending. This harsh division of the loved and unloved fits nicely into the play which portrays the ephemerality of life and beauty and the fleeting chance for love. Within this wistful framework of emotion, this production is as dynamic and vital as you would expect from Cheek by Jowl.
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TWELFTH NIGHT
Written by William Shakespeare Directed by Declan Donnellan With: Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Evgeny Tsyganov, Mikhail Zhigalov, Vsevolod Boldin, Sergey Mukhin, Mikhail Dementiev, Alexander Feklistov, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Dmitry Shcherbina, Igor Yasulovich, Alexei Dadonov, Andrei Kuzitchev, Ilia Ilyin Design: Nick Ormerod Lighting: Judith Greenwood Movement: Albert Alberts Music: Vladimir Pankov, Alexander Gusev Running time: Two hours 45 minutes with one interval Box Office: 020 7638 8891 Booking at the Barbican to 17th June 2006 RSC Stratford: 28th February to 3rd March 2007 Reviewed by Charlotte Loveridge on 13th June 2006 performance at the Barbican Theatre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS (Tube: Barbican |
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