Twelfth Night is a breezy comedy that will delight
By Clara Lock, photos courtesy of Singapore Repertory Theatre
Twelfth Night (Or What You Will) is an exercise in duality. Fresh, lighthearted and rambunctious, it evokes Shakespeare’s themes of duplexity in a laugh a minute romp.
Staged as the fourth installment of Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT)’s Shakespeare in the park, it features rich production values, with a mammoth set that towers over the audience.
The coastal Illyria is given a modern update, with the bow of a yacht beached on sandy shores dominating half the set. This is Duke Orsino’s (Shane Mardjuki) domain, the laid back, beachfront vibe a mirror to his easy charm.
The other half is the stately, upstanding opulence of Lady Olivia’s (Seong Hui Xian) residence. The whitewashed, two-storey façade leads into a patio from which she holds court, and repeatedly deflects the advances of the Duke.
It is into these opposing worlds that Viola (Rebecca Spykerman) and Sebastian (Keagan Kang) are thrust; siblings separated at sea, both thinking the other dead.
The plucky Viola assumes the male alter ego Cesario to serve the Duke, who sends her to woo Lady Olivia on his behalf.
Thus unfolds a love triangle – Viola falls for the lazy charm of the Duke, even as she unknowingly wins Lady Olivia’s heart.
It is perhaps fortuitous for Spykerman that the audience sees her only briefly as a woman, making her turn as a young male attendant extremely believable.
Her affection for the Duke is understated yet effective, a contrast to Seong’s flamboyant displays of adoration.
Spykerman and Seong, both recent graduates of Lasalle’s musical theatre program, hold their own among veterans Adrian Pang as the irrepressible jester Feste and Daniel Jenkins as the beleaguered Malvolio.
The latter two milk the laughs – Pang, together with compatriots Sir Toby (Neil McCaul) and Sir Andrew (Andy Tear), have the audience laughing along with their wisecracks and drunken buffoonery. In contrast, most of the laughter is directed at Jenkins’ Malvolio, the straight-laced steward who winds up a victim of his own ambition.
The comic characters play off each other’s energy brilliantly, with Jenkins’ puritanical Malvolio providing an easy victim for Pang’s mischievous Feste.
The longstanding prank on Malvolio may have been the brainchild of Mistress Mary (Vicky Williamson), but it is Pang’s fictitious priest Sir Topaz with his phony accent who thrusts Malvolio in a dark room and then torments him endlessly, who brings the gag to its head. We laugh with Feste, but it is hard not to pity Malvolio, who receives no respite even when the jig is up.
It is easy to be won over by Twelfth Night, an accessible comedy made all the more magical by the spirited performances of the cast and the upbeat pacing of this comedy. This is midsummer madness at its finest.
Twelfth Night plays at Fort Canning Park from 25th April to 20th May. For more information, visit www.srt.com.sg
