Tony Award winning director Daniel Sullivan has assembled a sterling cast to tell the story of the romantic adventures of identical twin brother and sister, mistaken identity, and various other misadventures that take place on the enchanted island of Illyria.
At the play’s outset, a ship bearing the twins is shipwrecked off the coast of Illyria. Each fears the other has drowned. Viola (Anne Hathaway), disguised as a boy (it was not safe for an unaccompanied female to travel about alone), sets out for the court of Duke Orsino (Raúl Esparza). Orsino immediately hires Viola, who now calls herself Cesario, as his page and sends him to woo on Orsino’s behalf the lovely Olivia (Audra McDonald), who, sadly, is mourning the recent deaths of her father and brother, and in any case is not attracted to Orsino.
But oddly enough, Olivia is much taken with Cesario/Viola, and now the fun begins. There are hijinks aplenty with personnel of Olivia’s court: her steward Malvolio (Michael Cumpsty), her dissolute uncle Sir Toby Belch (Jay O. Sanders), his pal the unlikely suitor to Olivia, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Hamish Linklater), the sly and witty Maria, Olivia’s gentlewoman (Julie White), and Feste (David Pittu), a clown in service to Olivia.
Of course, “Twelfth Night” being a comedy, by the end, the right couples are paired off; in fact, it turns out that Viola’s brother, Sebastian (Stark Sands) was not drowned after all—and a good thing, for he becomes the perfect mate for—but I won’t give it away.
As to performances, Anne Hathaway’s Viola/Cesario is overall nicely done, but lacks the consistency and technical assurance that a stronger theater background might have supplied. (As is generally known, she is more noted as a film actress, with an Academy Award nomination to her credit.) She does, however, very much look the part, and at one point displays a lovely singing voice.
Audra McDonald, who can always be counted on to give a fine performance, does so as Olivia, though I would have wished for a more regal characterization, rather than the very down-to-earth depiction she presents here. Olivia, being obviously wealthy, with many servants, should, in my opinion, convey a strongly royal presence.
Raul Esparza, always an exciting presence onstage, appears somewhat muted as Orsino. Esparza’s persona does manage to come through, though not as intensely as one might desire. Michael Cumpsty, too, a fine actor, seems muted as Malvolio, a role that is often presented as showy and deserving of the highest critical accolades. Perhaps these two performances were directorial choices; it’s difficult to know.
The scenes that most took fire involved the people of Olivia’s court, namely, the Maria of Julie White, the Toby Belch of Jay O. Sanders, and the Andrew Aguecheek of Hamish Linklater. These scenes and players operated at the high energy level that the script calls for.
Jane Greenwood’s costumes lend a handsome touch to the proceedings, with Peter Kaczorowski’s lighting doing yeoman work in the park’s difficult environment, particularly on the rainy night when I was present.
The folk rock band Hem, composed of a quintet of players, utilizing several nontraditional instruments such as bodhran and whistles, imbued the proceedings with warmth and a sense of a long-ago period of time.
All in all, this production is a highly enjoyable presentation of one of William Shakespeare’s major comedies.
Twelfth Night
Delacorte Theater
Central Park (entrance 79th &
Central Park West)
Tickets: free, in person at box office
Delacorte Theater or
(212) 260-2400 or
www.publictheater.org
Running time: 3 hours
Closes: July 12
Diana Barth writes and publishes “New Millennium,” an arts coverage newsletter. For information: diabarth@juno.com . She also reviews for TotalTheater.com.
