Offered as a part of the Auckland Satisfaction Competition 2024, Arden Ensemble’s Twelfth Night time was variously marketed as a lesbian reinterpretation, an LGBTQIA+ retelling, and a queer reimagining. ‘Reimagining’ might 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 up to date really feel.
Twelfth Night time isn’t a troublesome play to forged in a queer mild. For many who 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. Although the play’s ending purports to reestablish the heterosexual established order, trendy audiences could also be left with a couple of questions: Did Orsino fall for Cesario the person as an alternative of Viola the girl? Was Olivia, in changing into smitten with Cesario, actually endeared to Viola’s method, Viola’s thoughts? And might her affections be so neatly transferred to Viola’s twin brother Sebastian?
Whereas 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 time is one in every of Shakespeare’s most accessible works, and this manufacturing lets the bard’s phrases converse for themselves.
It’s emphasised from the start that Olivia (Rebecca Scholtz) has “abjured the sight / and firm of males”, having rejected each suitor who has known as at her door. The connotations of this — that maybe Olivia isn’t enthusiastic about males — are underscored by her insistence that she merely can’t 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’s decreed should be, and be this so”, it looks 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 choose standouts in a forged the place even the minor roles shine. That stated, Easterbrook is constantly robust 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 Idiot — who additionally gives some very good vocals — the three take advantage of each scene. Having not learn or seen Twelfth Night time shortly, I’d forgotten simply how outstanding these characters’ subplot is. The present ensures their hijinks are entertaining all through.
A lot of this success is because of Herda’s blocking, which successfully highlights the bodily comedy (the tricking of Malvolio (a fantastic Jack Chen-Sinclair) is especially memorable). It really works equally nicely in quieter scenes, sustaining the relationships focus vital 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). Whereas all of the items fall into place for Viola and Orsino’s romantic ending, she’s left on the outskirts, in search of consolation in new pals Sebastian and Antonio. However sorrow can solely be fleeting when there’s a jig to be danced — closing the present in conventional Shakespearean type.
It’s at all times a deal with to see a traditional play mounted with ardour and professionalism. Arden Ensemble launched in 2023 with their modernised A lot 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 pleasing second present, I don’t doubt that they are going to.
Twelfth Night time: A Queer Reimagining performed TAPAC twenty first to the twenty fourth of February 2024
