Presented as a part of the Auckland Pride Festival 2024, Arden Ensemble’s Twelfth Night was variously marketed as a lesbian reinterpretation, an LGBTQIA+ retelling, and a queer reimagining. ‘Reimagining’ could finest match the invoice. Director Rose Herda and her gamers have staged a vibrant rendition of Shakespeare’s comedy that delivers the same old laughs and shenanigans — with an unmistakably modern really feel.
Twelfth Night isn’t a tough play to solid in a queer mild. For those that haven’t seen or studied it, we lay our scene in Illyria, the place Viola finds herself shipwrecked. When she disguises herself as “Cesario”, a male attendant to Duke Orsino, she’s thrust onto even stormier seas: desperately in love with Orsino but despatched to woo Countess Olivia on his behalf, just for Olivia to fall in love with Viola believing she’s a person. Though the play’s ending purports to reestablish the heterosexual establishment, fashionable audiences could also be left with a number of questions: Did Orsino fall for Cesario the person as an alternative of Viola the lady? Was Olivia, in turning into smitten with Cesario, actually endeared to Viola’s method, Viola’s thoughts? And can her affections be so neatly transferred to Viola’s twin brother Sebastian?
While I wouldn’t have minded a looser adaptation that took extra liberties with the script, I loved Arden Ensemble’s option to heighten and tease out the homoerotic subtext already within the play. The fashionable interpolations (colloquial asides, Elizabethan variations of chart-topping songs) stand out in a great way, by no means feeling clumsy or overdone. Twelfth Night is considered one of Shakespeare’s most accessible works, and this manufacturing lets the bard’s phrases communicate for themselves.
It’s emphasised from the start that Olivia (Rebecca Scholtz) has “abjured the sight / and company of men”, having rejected each suitor who has referred to as at her door. The connotations of this — that maybe Olivia isn’t concerned about males — are underscored by her insistence that she merely can not love Orsino (Hunter Easterbrook). They’re confirmed when she realises the true nature of her attraction to the ‘pageboy’ Cesario (actually Viola, earnestly portrayed by Isabella Creemers). This introduces a enjoyable layer to her interactions with Viola, and with us; the viewers who shares her information of Cesario’s secret. Her pursuit of a love that goes in opposition to the norms of her time additionally provides new dimension to Olivia herself. When she declares “what is decreed must be, and be this so”, it seems like a plea for destiny to work out in her favour regardless of the society that stands in her approach.
The queerness doesn’t finish with Olivia and Viola. The present additionally seizes on Antonio’s full devotion to Sebastian and Orsino’s rising chemistry with Cesario. It’s futile to select standouts in a solid the place even the minor roles shine. That mentioned, Easterbrook is constantly sturdy because the mercurial Orsino, as are the dynamic trio of Aidan Lloyd as Sir Andrew, Nat Dolan as Sir Toby, and Sophie Watson as Maria. Alongside Frannie Johnson’s Feste the Fool — who additionally gives some very good vocals — the three take advantage of each scene. Having not learn or seen Twelfth Night shortly, I’d forgotten simply how outstanding these characters’ subplot is. The present ensures their hijinks are entertaining all through.
Much of this success is because of Herda’s blocking, which successfully highlights the bodily comedy (the tricking of Malvolio (an incredible Jack Chen-Sinclair) is especially memorable). It works equally properly in quieter scenes, sustaining the relationships focus necessary to the play and particularly this pride-themed model. There’s a bittersweet-ness to the climax, permitting us to really feel for Olivia’s unrequited love (well-performed by Scholtz). While all of the items fall into place for Viola and Orsino’s romantic ending, she’s left on the outskirts, looking for consolation in new associates Sebastian and Antonio. But sorrow can solely be fleeting when there’s a jig to be danced — closing the present in conventional Shakespearean type.
It’s all the time a deal with to see a traditional play mounted with ardour and professionalism. Arden Ensemble launched in 2023 with their modernised Much Ado About Nothing. I hope to see the group persevering with to afford alternatives to youthful and rising actors and staging many extra exhibits sooner or later. Judging by the viewers response to their totally pleasant second present, I don’t doubt that they’ll.
Twelfth Night: A Queer Reimagining performed TAPAC twenty first to the twenty fourth of February 2024
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