Reviews
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.
