Twelfth Night at Shakespeare’s Globe is a very midsummer madness: frivolous, sharp and very, very funny.
The problem with reviewing Shakespeare’s comedies, when done well, is that they’re just very funny.
This is especially true with the Globe, at which the base line levels of competency are so high that there’s very little to unpick other than the wider creative decisions.
The staging is always superbly executed, the costuming always absolutely on point, the music always perfect.
The whole production is almost always sculpted with love and care to capture the atmosphere and vibes that are trying to be captured.
All of this is true of Twelfth Night or What You Will which is an excellent rendition of one of the Bard’s classic comedies.
Twelfth Night is at its core a celebration of frivolity, with practical jokes, drinking, music and dancing galore. If there are serious undertones and something to say (and certainly there are) then they get swept aside for one last dance.
And when it’s being frivolous, Twelfth Night is superb. The physical comedy is great, the fourth wall breaking is hilarious and the cast are all giving their A-game.
The standouts are Jocelyn Jee Esien as the aptly named Lady Belch and Pearce Quigley as the long-suffering Malvolio, but everyone deserves praise.
The play breezes through its jovial first act, glossing over the tragic elements of the play’s opening moments in favour of songs, dances and drinking.
When it hits its stride is in the latter half, as it cranks up the laugh-a-minute gags and refuses to let its audience rest on its laurels.
If Twelfth Night has a flaw, it comes in the play’s final moments when the laughing stops.
Shakespeare loves to turn the audience’s laughter back on them, but the two dramatic moments at the end of the play lack weight because they’ve been so effectively avoided in the previous two hours.
Any interrogations of the consequences of the character’s actions are half-hearted, as at the end of the day, we’re all just here for a bit of fun.
And fun is something it delivers in spades.
Twelfth Night or What You Will is running at Shakespeare’s Globe until 25 October and you can pick up tickets here.
Featured image credit: Helen Murray
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