From a minor character in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night to the star of a one-man show that’s travelled the world. Tim Crouch speaks to Iggy Fenech about his play I, Malvolio, hitting the Maltese stage.

Think about all those heart-warming rags-to-riches tales you enjoy reading about, or the men and women who against all odds manage to achieve their dreams. The world is full of underdogs, and we love it.

There is a thrill in seeing those who should have been forgotten, ignored and defeated succeed. It’s a basic human instinct that gives us faith to push on and struggle for what we believe in. It’s what makes graduation day so important, the Eiffel Tower so magical and Disney so wealthy.

Shakespeare understood this, and it’s definitely one of the reasons why his plays grow in popularity as they grow in years. He knew that someone with power and money who lost it and regained it would make for a good story. He also realised that no matter how unimportant someone might seem to be, somehow and in some way that person could and would affect the world’s destiny.

Young people, I believe, are the underdogs in society

Each of Shakespeare’s characters, in fact – be it minor or major, flat or round – had something important to put across: Goneril in King Lear shows how disloyalty is never repaid with kindness; Romeo and Juliet’s Mercutio brings the suddenness of death to the forefront; while Macbeth’s Three Witches blur the borders between reality and the supernatural to represent the illogicality of life. But as far as Shakespeare’s underdogs go, few can beat the unjust fate and the epic resurrection of Malvolio.

Malvolio’s fate in the play Twelfth Night or What You Will, is unmerited. Although pompous, he is a decent man and the moment his employer’s untrue declarations of love land him in a mad house, the audience realises the heart-wrenching reality of the scapegoat. He is meant to be forgotten, forever in a degenerate environment. But just like any other underdog, and thanks to theatre-maker Tim Crouch, Malvolio has been raised from his own ashes.

“As a character, Malvolio is acerbic and acidic; a clown in a way, and a disciplinarian in another,” explains Tim, whose play I, Malvolio has been performed in many countries around the world.

“He’s a self-denying, pompous hypocrite and his characteristics are in every schoolteacher and disciplinarian we ever hated. That’s why Shakespeare still speaks to the continuum of us as human beings.

“Shakespeare invented the understanding of what it is to be human. We still connect with that idea now. How Hamlet talks about his existential experience is still relevant to the way we see ours . He was the creator of archetypes around set ideas that have become imprinted in our subconscious.

“In fact, one of the reasons why I’ve created plays like I, Caliban, I, Peaseblossom, I, Banquo and I, Malvolio is because I am a firm believer in the underdog,” adds Crouch. “They were never meant to be a series, and their main characters were never meant to have their own play, but it just happened that way. And it’s because of who they’re aimed at... young people... that these plays are about the underdog. Because young people, I believe, are the underdogs in society.”

Written and performed by Crouch himself and designed by the Olivier Award-winning Graeme Gilmour, I, Malvolio’s biggest achievement is that it has turned Shakespeare into something that can be enjoyed by the modern generation.

It bypasses Shakespeare’s play in terms of story but alludes to it constantly, creating a spin-off of a classic that is vibrant and witty enough to entice young and adult audiences alike in a simplified language.

“I, Malvolio feels like a good key for what might be an impenetrable sphere: the high society of Shakespeare. Although people know it is taken from a Shakespearean play, they don’t need to know the story. It sits side-by-side to Shakespeare’s story but it’s not a part of it.

“It’s philosophical on quite a broad level too, and takes its reference from Shakespeare and the theatre,” Crouch continues. “This play also recognises the audience’s presence in the building, and the people become the subject as well as the object of I, Malvolio. It provokes the audience to think about why they’re laughing and asks them why they’re not at home.”

A modern and somewhat unusual piece of theatre, I, Malvolio challenges the audience and allows Malvolio to exert his revenge on the audience who laughed at him, and vice versa. It also redefines theatre for those who usually form part of passive audiences.

Malta’s chance to catch I, Malvolio on stage coincides with the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. It’s also a fitting celebration of all that Shakespeare has given the world through his plays; a tribute rather than another adaptation, and one that ironically celebrates Malvolio’s hatred of theatre.

“Malvolio is a representative of the Puritan Movement in England and he would have been the kind of man who, 40 years later, would close all the theatres,” explains Crouch. “But through Malvolio, I’m also celebrating the unique and engaging quality of the liveliness of theatre. And this show won’t allow you to ignore what’s going on on stage.”

I, Malvolio runs on April 4 at St James Cavalier, Valletta. Tickets are available by calling 2122 3200 or online.

www.sjcav.org