Book Reviews and More: Twelfth Night Stratford Festival 2024 A Review

Monday, 18 November 2024

Twelfth Night Stratford Festival 2024 A Review

Twelfth Night

2024

Stratford Festival

Director Seana McKenna

Set and Costume Designer Christina Poddubiuk

Lighting Designer Bonnie Beecher

Composer Paul Shilton

Sound Designer Verne Good

Fight Director Anita Nittoly

Choreographer Stephanie Graham

Executive Producer David Auster

Casting Directors Beth Russell, Ari Weinberg

Creative Planning Director Jason Miller

Twelfth Night Stratford Festival 2024 A Review Playbill

Twelfth Night Stratford Festival 2024 A Review Stage

This was the fourth of four planned shows this season my son and I attended with shows ranging from early April to mid-October. Over the last few years my son, who is now 16, and I have attended a number of plays in Stratford at the festival. We eagerly await the announcements of the season’s shows and often buy our tickets early in the winter. The other shows we have seen or plan to see this season are Something Rotten, Cymbeline, and Romeo and Juliet.

We both read a version of it before attending it.

We both really enjoyed this production. It was wonderful to see it set in the 1960’s, and the one gender swap. We really appreciated the cast and staging of the production.

The summary of the play on the festival site states:

“"O Time, Thou Must Untangle This, Not I. It Is Too Hard A Knot For Me T'untie."

A terrible storm leaves Viola shipwrecked on the island of Illyria. A woman alone in a strange land, Viola disguises herself as "Cesario" and enters the service of Duke Orsino to deliver love letters to Countess Olivia. Orsino's plan backfires when Olivia falls for Cesario, whose heart now belongs to Orsino, who is still smitten with Olivia. When Viola's twin brother appears, complications peak! Twelfth Night remains one of the Shakespeare's most beloved romantic comedies, a sumptuous feast of unrequited love, mistaken identity, high poetry and riveting drama, reimagined in a setting closer to our time and around the corner from the Summer of Love: the late '60s.”

My top ranking for the performances would be:

Jessica B. Hill as Viola

Vanessa Sears as Olivia

Austin Eckert as Sebastian

André Sills as Orsino

Deborah Hay as Feste

My son’s top picks were:

Austin Eckert as Sebastian

Deborah Hay as Feste

Scott Wentworth at Sir Toby Belch

Rylan Wilkie as Sir Andrew Aguecheek

Austin Eckert as Sebastian

The full cast in alphabetical order is:

The Travellers

Viola - Jessica B. Hill

Sebastian - Austin Eckert

Sea Captain - David Collins

Antonio - Emilio Vieira

Sailor - John Kirkpatrick

Shipwreck Survivors - Marissa Orjalo, Glynis Ranney, Michael Spencer-Davis

Backpackers - Hilary Adams, Nick Dolan

Duke Orsino’s Court

Orsino - André Sills

Curio - Tarique Lewis

Valentine - Andrew Iles

Luca, Attending Lord - Nick Dolan

Benicio, Attending Lord - Thomas Duplessie

Alessandro, Attending Lord - Jonathan Mason

Musician - Rob Stone

Countess Olivia’s Household

Olivia - Vanessa Sears

Sir Toby Belch - Scott Wentworth

Feste - Deborah Hay

Malvolio - Laura Condlln

Maria - Sarah Dodd

Sir Andrew Aguecheek, A Visitor - Rylan Wilkie

Fabian - Michael Spencer-Davis

Priest - John Kirkpatrick

Sofia, Lady In Waiting - Antonette Rudder

Rosa, Servant - Hilary Adams

Anna, Servant - Marissa Orjalo

Gardeners - Nick Dolan, Thomas Duplessie, Tarique Lewis, Jonathan Mason

Town And Country

First Officer - Jonathan Mason

Second Officer - Nick Dolan

Café Staff - David Collins, Tarique Lewis

Widow - Glynis Ranney

Understudies

Feste, Anna - Hilary Adams

Malvolio - Sarah Dodd

Valentine, Fabian - Nick Dolan

Priest, First Officer, Second Officer, Backpacker, Sailor - Thomas Duplessie

Olivia - Jenna-Lee Hyde

Sir Andrew Aguecheek - Andrew Iles

Antonio, Sea Captain, Café Staff - John Kirkpatrick

Sebastian - Tarique Lewis

Curio, Café Staff - Jonathan Mason

Sofia - Marissa Orjalo

Maria - Glynis Ranney

Viola - Antonette Rudder

Sir Toby Belch - Michael Spencer-Davis

Orsino - Emilio Vieira

This was an excellent staging and production of this play. As the house program indicates it is one of the most popular of the Bard’s romantic comedies. It along with A Midsummer Night’s Dream are tied for the honour of most stages at the Stratford festival.

This is an easier play to follow and one many have studied in high school or university. It is a story many are familiar with. The director’s note in the handbill states:

“I have a confession to make: I rarely read director’s notes before I see a play. I want to see “the thing itself” without any preparation for it. I want to be able to receive the play as it unfolds, without any preconceptions of what it might be. So, dear reader, if you want to skip this part of your program, I will understand wholeheartedly.

Although Twelfth Night, or What You Will (as it is known by its alternate title) has been loved for centuries for its comic predicaments exposing human frailty and folly, for me, there is an ache at the heart of the play. Perhaps it is a yearning for that which is missing or is perceived to be missing; a longing for that which the characters believe will make them “whole.” Each character seeks something or someone that they hope will make life . . . better.

For some of us, such as myself, travel makes life better. To be a stranger in a strange land opens one’s eyes to new landscapes, new cultures, new people—and also to oneself. You have the possibility to “re-create” yourself.”

And it concludes with:

“For better or worse, people themselves have not changed all that much since this play was written. We still mourn our losses, we still laugh at our own absurd behaviours and we still know the pangs of unrequited love, the wondrous joys of love returned, as well as the dilemmas that disguise or self-delusion can create. We still know and yearn for the healing powers of music, laughter, love and that whirligig of Time. No matter what century we were born in, we all share the bittersweet awareness of our mortality and the need to appreciate our brief moment in the sun. Feste the Fool sings it best:

“Present mirth hath present laughter:

What’s to come is still unsure.

In delay there lies no plenty,

Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty:

Youth’s a stuff will not endure.””

This was another great production from the cast, crew and artistic team at the Stratford festival. If you have the chance to see it, in theatre or on film if this is one they record we can easily recommend it.