Reviews

Theatre: Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, or the Eve of the Feast of the Epiphany, was, in William Shakespeare’s time, an occasion of drunken revelry that marked the end of Christmas. His comedy, Twelfth Night, utilises the holiday’s Saturnalian conventions, with characters cross-dressing and falling victim to elaborate pranks. Director Wayne Jordan adds contemporary touches to the mayhem. We are told this will not be a conventional staging of Twelfth Night, but will riff on Shakespeare’s intentions. Four enormous speakers are pushed onto the stage, as the Duke Orsino, dressed as a rock star, utters the words: “If music be the food of love, play on.”

Much of what follows treats of the relationships between Orsino and the object of his affections, Olivia; the servant Cesario, who is Viola dressed as a boy; and her ‘lost’ twin brother, Sebastian.

But these characters are upstaged by the subplot involving Olivia’s dissolute Uncle Toby and her puritan steward, Malvolio. After Malvolio asks Toby to keep the noise down at night, Toby pours a drink over his head, and then takes unwarranted revenge by convincing Malvolio, by means of a forged letter, that Olivia is in love with Malvolio. The letter asks that he wear “yellow stockings cross-gartered,” which is interpreted as a hideous, all-over body suit. Molvolio, mistaken for mad, is humiliated further when he is confined to a glass cage.

Nick Dunning captures Uncle Toby’s self-indulgence and assurance with exemplary ease, while Mark O’Halloran revels in the unfortunate Molvolio, portraying him as put-upon and deluded, but also as a man to be pitied for his wish to rise above his station in his mistress’s household.

Twelfth Night is not one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces — the ending is ridiculous, with characters marrying-off and all the loose ends hurriedly tied up — but this is a lively and colourful production. One might quibble with Jordan’s claim that “the queering of class, gender and sexuality is at the core of the play’s alchemy,” but he does right to fill the stage with so much music and dance. Ger Kelly, as Feste, steals the show musically, performing with such skill that you wonder why he is not better known as a singer.

Star Rating: 4/5

Live music: Carmina Burana

Cork City Hall

By Sonya Keogh

The 60th Cork International Choral Festival gala concert was opened by Lord Mayor Catherine Clancy, while John Fitzpatrick, festival director of 21 years, gave the address, spoke of history, resilience and longevity.

The Band of 1 Brigade, conducted by Captain Brian Prendergast, began to play. Their music was an enjoyable introduction, but it was their ‘Respighi’, beautifully played and fittingly full of drama, occasion and rising anticipation, which left us eager to retake our seats for Carmina Burana, in part two.

Carmina Burana, by Carl Orff, was an excellent choice, a musical feast representative of community and shared humanity. The adult massed choir, Tallaght Choral Society and East Cork Choral Society, sang with great heart, energy and joy, and their ‘O Fortuna’ (‘Fortune, Empress of the World’) was a great feat of human expression. The Montfort Youth Choir were disciplined, impassioned and engaged. Cara O’Sullivan was in fine voice, Peter Kerr in fine performance, and Owen Gilhooly robust as ever. The Band of 1 Brigade was stunning and the ‘Mas Quiles’ arrangement excellent. It was a full stage, a complete audience, and, combined, it proved a proper full house.

The audience, so disciplined in their silence, broke into rapturous applause, shouts and whistles, before rising to a unanimous standing ovation. They stood as a community in celebration of their achievement. Perhaps it has been this shared spirit that has sustained the Cork International Choral Festival as Cork’s longest-running festival.

Throughout the evening, I wished we could have turned City Hall inside-out on this glorious summer’s eve, and shared the atmosphere and performance with the wider Cork community.

Still, if you have not yet experienced the Cork International Choral Festival, let this be your year.

Cork International Choral Festival will run from 30 April to 4 May 2014 (visit www.corkchoral.ie).

Star Rating: 4/5