Twelfth Night: or What You Will

@fingerlesstheatre  Sydney March 2023

The review

Twelfth Night: or What You Will’ by William Shakespeare @fingerlesstheatre @sydneyworldpride

Director: Alex Kendall Robson (@alexkendallrobson) - and he is also Sir Toby. Co-Producer: Jade Fuda (@jadealexcein) - and Viola she is.

Impressive work.

If hearing “Shakespeare”, you are imagining a heavy dusty set and costumes and accentuated pronunciation, which makes one deaf with anxiety in front of complexity - drop these thoughts now. This play was made to slide along its timeline effortlessly. The story is known - right?? but please see *below, in case :).See this - quite a small elongated hall, two rows of chairs bordering some rectangular space with a layer of sand on the floor, a set of stairs and a balcony along the long wall, a couple of lemon trees in one corner, and a couple of bright lights which are nearly always on - like a hot sun somewhat Mediterranean. And a group of young actors, speaking fluently, so complex verses feel like the natural language they speak. Acting without pushing, they are connecting every moment. Their looks, glances, steering, or hiding eyes would make the story readable without words.

The “Twelfth Night” is a part of Pride amplified, and has its place there legitimately. The Bard’s comedies are so full of sexuality that it doesn’t take much to accent some scenes to make it praise queer, and - yay! - to celebrate bisexuality. A play starts with a song, there is a Feste (Zachary Aleksander - a gifted musical theatre actor, there is a wonderful memory of his, as some other cast members, acting in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” last year) - singing a song, playing a ukulele. The songs intervene in the story constantly, making the performance feel like a street theatre of old times. Where only the talent of actors (plenty presented here - the entire cast) could hold the attention of the crowd. It is hardly possible to pick the most catchy character here. Everyone created one, so it is impossible to look away. Orsino, a well-groomed blonde man, dressed in black and gold (basically, underwear, a long tunic, and sunglasses, but - oh, classy!), crying after Olivia, yet ...

yet is close to his Curio (they are dancing well together), and growing attachment to Viola. The warmest scene was when they both were sitting on the sand building a sandcastle, smiling, nearly touching each other's hands, and pulling a bit back, realizing they are getting too close.

Olivia, a classical beauty with long hair, bright eyes, and red-colored lips, dressed in black or white vintage dresses with a narrow waist and layered skirts, is smart, witty, and well-aware of her status. Meeting Viola, Rebecca Rolle transitions her body, showing a dry woman with sparse gestures to one whose every feature starts breathing, suddenly feeling a hunger for love. Her attempts to win him (her) are made hilariously funny, as a beach scene, when she is hardly dressed, asking Viola to rub some sunscreen on her back. While she is melting with pleasure, Viola looks very uncomfortable, but is obliged to keep going. Viola by Jade Fuda, here is the core character, made kind but strong, loyal, and self-reserved, keeping her secrets, with an ocean of love reflected in her looks. Each of her monologues feels like what she is saying is only a surface, but there is more, much more hidden and unspoken. Her meeting with Sebastian brought tears. The brother is a sharp young man, taking good and fighting bad from what is offered by the faith - a perfect hit by Clay Crighton, as well as his Fabian, quite an opposite personality.

While the love stories are brewing, setting a sensual, dramatic core, the main comedy element is played by Alex Kendall Robson as Sir Toby, together with his gang, Sir Andrew and Fabian. Sir Toby is a drunker and joker; he is loud, setting up rules and principles only to satisfy - i.e., entertain - himself. He laughs loudly, he is vulgar, he sings impressively well but not always appropriately, and he sets his freedoms, having no concept of proper behavior. He is funny in his colorful shirt, at some point, tacked not in absent shorts but into pink undies with a banana print on them. He is genuinely disgusted by Malvolia, who is his clear opposite. Maria (a beauty and a brain of the company) shares his opinion and helps, together with Feste (who is more like a joker here; dressed as a hippie, he transforms from a bard to a monster), to make a full of Malvolia, to toss out to her a fake love letter from Olivia requesting her to wear yellow stockings, and cross-gartered, and smiling widely.

Calling this play bittersweet, this is where the bitter moment comes. How Meg Bennetts does it must be placed into a textbook as an example of how to perform a reading of a half-page letter, captivating the audience so their fingertips start tingling. Malvolia is a tall, stiff lady, wearing a boring white shirt and a midi straight skirt, the only one wearing shoes (cheap and ugly), with glasses on a chain. She is not damn, but she is emotionless, like an aged-virgin school teacher in old fairytales. But reading this letter, a flow of hope, mixed with doubt, slowly bubbles to the surface. Line by line, one can see she has a soul. The suppressed love starts to glow through cracks in the scorched surface of her appearance. Reading further, she starts to glow, her body moves more softly, she is more flexible now, and she is excited. She made it torture to watch. All know what she does not. And all feel for her, and compassion is growing, but the theatre rules are tough  - one cannot jump and save her. So when she gets to PS, finishes it, and happily - and clumsily - jumps running off the stage, the avalanche of applause follows.

Applause will burst again and again, as the only way to accept and give back that overwhelming feeling which made this show with such a modest set-up such a competitive, rich, and marvelous work.

Creative team

Director: Alex Kendall Robson (he/him)

Co-Producer: Jade Fuda (she/her)

Associate Producer: Jessica Iuliano (she/her)

Assistant Producer/Publicity: Mina Asfour (he/him)

Music Director: Zachary Aleksander (he/they)

Composer: Antonio Fernandez (he/him)

Costume Designer: Josh Carter (he/him)

Graphic Designer: Matthew Whittingham (he/him) 

Photos by Yang Wu @yang_wu1919

Cast

Viola (Jade Fuda)

Antonio (Shingo Usami @shingousami

Sebastian (Clay Crighton @claycrighton

Duke Orsino (Denzel Bruhn @denzelbruhn

Curio (Eddy O’Leary @quiet_husband

Olivia (Rebecca Rolle @rebeccarolle_

Sir Toby Alex Kendall Robson

Fabian Clay Crighton

Sir Andrew Teale Howie @tealehowie

Maria (Chrissy Mae Valentine @chrissymaevalentine

Malvolia (Meg Bennetts @meg.k.bennetts