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Men only night moves Twelfth
Night Belgrade
Theatre, Coventry ***** AS A latecomer to Propeller's all-male Shakespeare I'm now the staunchest of converts. The efficiency with which the cast tell a complex story; clever cutting of well-known texts that could whiff of sacrilege, and this, one of his best-loved plays, was literally smoke and mirrors. On the set, constructed of
incredibly versatile walk-through wardrobes, every flat surface gleamed
with reflections that threw you off balance and hid the truth.
‘Disguise' and mistaken identity rule the plot. Most of the cast inhabited the
space throughout the play, peeping through and round the set. We, the
watchers, were watched in our turn. Twins Sebastian (Dan Wheeler)
and Viola (Joseph Chance) each presume the other dead in a shipwreck off Viola makes a very pretty boy
and Olivia duly falls for him. The mischief-makers of Feste the jester
(Liam O'Brien), Olivia's uncle Sir Toby Belch (Vince Leigh), her maid
Maria (Gary Shelford) and unappealing suitor Sir Andrew Aguecheek (John
Dougall) hatch a vengeful plot to persuade Olivia that pompous steward
Malvolio (Chris Myles) is mad. Their torture of poor Malvolio
casts a shadow over a mostly merry play. Inevitably twin Sebastian
arrives in town and is mistaken for Cesario in his fight with Andrew
Aguecheek and, potentially more disastrously, by Olivia who marries him! Propeller chooses its casts to
include wonderful on-stage music – playing and singing – a wine glass
added a whole layer of eerie music to the scenes of mistaken identity. The mischief scenes with Sir
Toby and Maria were wonderful and fresh – quite an achievement when they
are so well known and taken out of context so often . Particularly enjoyable was the
drunken revelry that included an enthusiastic if none-too-accurate
version of Twelve Days of Christmas and some mooning. My
particular award would go to Gary Shelford as Maria, he created a
character that was recognisable, constantly alert, and very elegant.
Propeller lives up to expectation, sky high and, so far as I'm
concerned, in the artistic jet stream. Find it and go. More please. To
10-11-12
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