madbaker | (no subject)

We saw Free Shakespeare in the Park perform Twelfth Night Saturday evening. I was a bit apprehensive - "The evocative and dreamlike imagery of Rene Magritte provides reference for the visual framework in this exciting production" is what they said beforehand.

I've seen too many Shakespeare plays where the re-staging is the focus rather than the script; that detracts from the play rather than adding to it. I don't automatically hate a re-staging (I thought Ian McKellen's Richard III was brilliant) but it has to be something other than self-indulgent directorial wanking. "I must put my own stamp on Shakespeare! Lady Macbeth will be played by... a finger puppet!" A production we saw of Midsummer Night's Dream, in Grapes of Wrath Okie costumes and replacing some of the script with interpretive dance -- that was a failure in my book.

But back to my original thread. Fortunately, the director here didn't muck around with the script. The set was somewhat Magritte-ish, Feste was costumed in a bowler and dark suit, and put a green apple over his face at the end. Everyone else was dressed in standard 19^th century clothes. The actors were good, much better than the average quality we've seen in the past. Malvolio in particular was excellent. Speaking of which, the "no photographs" rule they instituted for this run made sense when Malvolio opened his duster jacket to reveal his yellow cross-garters... and a yellow Merry Widow.