Theatre
Twelfth Night
Maria Regina Lyceum

Twelfth Night or What You Will, is one of Shakespeare’s most light-hearted comedies, written specifically to celebrate the end of the run-up to Christmas (the 12 days of Christmas) and subtitled What You Will because it was meant to imply that the audience could have as much fun with it as the actors making merry on the stage would.

And indeed, this year’s MADC production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in the Greek Theatre at Maria Regina Lyceum, Blata l-Bajda, proved that the audience could do just that – have a good time, enjoying the Bard’s witticisms in a new take on this play. This newly chosen venue lends itself well to summer productions and will hopefully be made use of more often in the future. What marred the performance on Sunday, was, however, the relentless bursts of fireworks and petard salutes from not one, but two, parish feasts in the vicinity, which had most of the audience straining to hear the dialogue. I can imagine how frustrating it was for the actors; however, they made a splendid job of soldiering on and projecting as loudly as they could to make themselves heard – showing just how professional they are.

A violent storm separates Simone Spiteri’s Viola from Philip Leone Ganado’s Sebastian, as these twin siblings are travelling by ship. Shipwrecked separately, they both find their way to Illyria, Sebastian considerably later than Viola, who has by now disguised herself as Cesario, a young man and placed herself in the service of John Marinelli’s rather sedate Duke Orsino, whom she is beginning to fall for and leads the other characters a merry dance along the way. Orsino sends her (as Cesario) to act as his intermediary and woo and plead for Lady Olivia’s favour in his name. Newcomer to the Maltese stage, Laura Best, who previously worked professionally in Britain, played Olivia, who is in deep mourning for her father and brother and cares not the least for Orsino, and has plenty of other cares as she tries to manage her unruly household due to her uncle’s behaviour: Sir Toby Belch, played by Edward Mercieca. Ms Spiteri is an accomplished actress who played her part with enough grace and sensitivity that it worked very well with Ms Best’s comic timing when Olivia beings to fall for Cesario.

In this comedy of mistaken identities, and tricks of the eye, the subplot is just as funny and important as the main plot. Mr Mercieca made an excellent Sir Toby who, in cahoots with Olivia’s maid, Maria, played inimitably by a bawdy and mischievous Pia Zammit, plays the ultimate trick on the stuffy Malvolio, Olivia’s pompous head steward and comic mayhem ensues.

Manuel Cauchi was spot on as Malvolio and his aloof and stuffy demeanour played off nicely against the raucous Maria, Belch, Colin Willis’s poncy Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Nathan Brimmer’s Fabian. The latter three were involved in a comedic gem of a scene where Maria’s plot to tease and spite Malvolio by leading him to believe that Olivia is in love with him, takes place in Olivia’s garden. More hilarity is added by one of Shakespeare’s favourite fools, Feste played ably by Luke Farrugia, who together with Guitarist Matthias Mallia, managed to charm the audience with several unplugged renditions of popular songs, all the while exposing most of the other characters for their real foolishness and in turn deceiving a restrained and blindfolded Malvolio by pretending to be whom he is not. The chemistry between the actors was evident – in particular that between the Mr Willis’ odd-ball Sir Andrew – the toff in a boater with a silly laugh, Mr Mercieca’s Sir Toby – the fun-loving scoundrel who enjoys a good practical joke and Ms Zammit’s Maria.

Director Dave Barton clipped the script considerably and gave less importance to Mr Leone Ganado’s solid Sebastian, who accompanied by Victor Debono’s Antonio turns up to mix things up even more at the end, with Olivia wedding Sebastian when she thinks she is eloping with Cesario, who had previously rejected her advances. In keeping with Shakespeare’s original idea of merriment, he cleverly included quite a lot of contemporary music both between the scene changes and on stage, with choreography by Emma Loftus and the pleasant participation of the backstage crew. What I thought was rather over-used, however excellent the quality of their music, was the Farrugia/Mallia duo – which did seem to be a device of distraction at certain points. However, their personal comic timing kept the audience interested and smoothed over the rather abrupt changes in the plot (due to clipping).

Aldo Moretti’s simple, effective and vibrant set design along with lights design by Chris Gatt and sound by Alec Massa, worked well to create a fresh and pleasantly modern take on Elizabethan comedy.

It was certainly a pleasant evening out and a good way of starting the summer season with a much-loved piece of light theatre.