Search - Twelfth Night (Thames Shakespeare Collection) on DVD

Difficult to praise

S. McKinney | Indiana | 08/18/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Although I liked the effects of the "blue" winter scene and the mood it set, after awhile it seemed to lack imagination, as if a wintery scene and blue lighting are the only ways to express desolation and loneliness in the heart. And yes, I know it's supposed to be January, but still...

I didn't think there was any energy at all in this production. I don't know if the actors felt they had to move slowly to avoid doing damage to the unsteady sets or what, but everyone, even the comic players, seemed to be creeping around so hesitantly. And they didn't have much voice behind their characters - it felt to me as if they were proclaiming their lines instead of making their parts live and move and breathe.

My belief could not be suspended high enough to believe that the glorious Olivia could be so smitten by the awkward, worried-looking Cesario. It was pitiful.

I found it unutterably dull and not even the happy ending could redeem it. I was really disappointed with this production. I expected so much more from it."

An enchanting diversion

Allan M. Lees | Novato, CA USA | 07/29/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Twelfth Night is one of the Comedies, meaning a light piece intended to divert and amuse. The premise is simple enough: near-identical siblings, a youth and a maiden of noble birth, are shipwrecked and thanks to the actions of benign protectors end up unbeknownst to each other in the same foreign country Illyria, each thinking the other drowned.

Viola, the maiden, casting off her "woman's weeds" takes the guise of a young man and enters into service of the Count Orsino, who is attempting to woo his love-object the fair Olivia. Viola, in her guise as Cesario, is dispatched to press Orsino's cause. Instead, Olivia falls in love with Viola/Cesario while Viola/Cesario falls in love with her master Orsino. Meanwhile Sebastian, Viola's brother, slowly makes his way towards the love-triangle that is developing in his absence. A classic comedy of mistaken identity, in other words, with a plot-line that could be leaden and obvious to a fault.

But this play charms instead of grates because the comedic parts are so wonderfully portrayed. The jester Feste is perfect and Richard Briars gives a once-in-a-lifetime performance as the egregious Malvolio and accomplishes a minor miracle in causing us to feel real sympathy for him in the last act.

Of course this is old-world drama and anyone who expects the twin leads of Viola and Sebastian to resemble each other as near-identical will be grievously disappointed. This is, after all, theatre and entertainment. It was written to be performed in the afternoon to an audience rapt with the consumption of hot pies and with their attention straying to games of cards and dice. We are a long way from Hollywood here. So a viewer unaccustomed to Shakespeare or Ben Johnson or Kitt or Webster is likely to be unimpressed. Yet listen a moment to the words, to the lyric beauty that even after four hundred years can stir the soul, and suddenly it doesn't seem so silly that Olivia falls under the spell of Cesario's golden tongue. Set aside the desire for fast-paced action scenes and in a trice Malvolio's wretched loneliness and sense of grievance leaps to the fore and we acknowledge that his punishment exceeded his offence. In other words, allow yourself to experience this play as it was meant to be experienced, and the result is magical.

While not all the cast quits itself majestically, all performances are worthy and the over-arching effect is totally satisfying. We are not here for the sturm und drang of Othello or Hamlet or Macbeth; we are here for gentle sorrow and love requited in the end. Shakespeare takes a flimsy plot device and has crafted it into a vehicle for the tender exploration of loneliness, of personal isolation, and of redemption through love. For what it is, it is perfectly done and to be treasured like a fine old wine."