Skip to main content

Review of Twelfth Night at Delepre Abbey, Northampton

Twelfth Night was either my very first Shakespeare encounter or if not that, the one I definitely remember as being so. It was one of two of his plays that I studied at school (I genuinely can't remember which dry boring history one I also studied), and it was, 100% the very first Shakespeare I saw on stage live, via a trip to the RSC as Stratford no less with my school. In that cast were the likes of Tony Britton (Sir Toby Belch), Desmond Barrit (Malvolio), Haydn Gwynne (Olivia) and Derek Griffiths (Feste), and it went some way back then to stop me from hating the bard, despite eventually having the soul ripped from me via the teaching of him.

Since I started my epic escapade of theatre back in 2014, my love has been rekindled slowly for the bard with just seeing and enjoying plays being performed, as they should, and not dissected. Also, life has been brought into them by being endlessly innovative, maybe controversially for some, with their telling. My love is perhaps finally coming through.

So, as White Cobra decided this year to embark on their first Shakespeare, it was wonderful after a mere 25 years to see Twelfth Night live for a second time, and rather wonderfully in the delightful walled gardens of Delepre Abbey on a very sunny, retina-burning evening.

Twelfth Night needs little explaining after all this time, it is a farcical tale of twins separated, random unlikely disguises and some quick love decisions at the end. You might think this is Shakespeare's own little pantomime and I don't think really you would be far from the truth.

Director John Myhill, who has more than a few roots in panto, might have had the same idea as we have comic antics where you want to shout out he's behind you, broad characterisation and it all ending on a very panto typical cast singalong as well. Maybe we should have had someone holding up the words as well?

The cast is packed out with all the stalwarts of White Cobra, and a few new or rarely seen gems of addition as well. The regulars of the likes of Richard Jordan as the bulbous, red-faced, Sir Toby Belch and Fraser Haines as the poor put upon Malvolio are both clearly having enormous fun, the latter perfectly deadpan, the former, gloriously over the top, to make both performances gems in themselves.

Kate Billingham gives Maria a wonderfully naughty, mischievous edge, while Victoria Miles is stately and clearly spoken as Olivia. Barry Dougall is back in glorious fool action as Feste, and also gets to delight with a few singing numbers. Ben Stanton continues to show his multiple skills as Sebastian, although the role is somewhat streamlined and doesn't come to its full until towards the end.

Newcomer to White Cobra, Juliet O'Connor gives a lovely performance as Viola and her alter-ego Cesario, switching into the different character superbly, and easily handles the outdoor space with aplomb as do most of the performers with their projection.

Perhaps the greatest delight from this production, and finally for myself glorious to see him having a bigger role to get his teeth into, is Martin Borley-Cox's Sir Andrew Aguecheek. A first-class comic performance, even managing to steal scenes from Sir Toby.

White Cobra's production is trimmed and delightfully paced, coming in at just two hours. Also, congratulations for most of the performers managing to hear their cues, without the need for too many, The Dresser "here comes X now" moments, no mean feat I should imagine as the words drift into the wrong direction.

It was wonderful to be reminded after 25 years of where my Shakespeare properly began and sure, Twelfth Night is still probably one of my favourite Shakespeares, and this version is a classy little production of it to boot.

Performance reviewed: Friday 12th July 2019 at Delepre Abbey, Northampton

Twelfth Night runs until Sunday 14th July 2019 at Delepre Abbey, Northampton and one further date in July at Benthall Hall, Broseley. For full details visit their website at White Cobra

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Murder She Didn't Write at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Murder She Didn't Write , stopping off for a four-day run at Royal & Derngate on a lengthy UK tour, treads the now well-worn path of an improvisational evening of theatre entertainment. Unsurprisingly, from the title, this show from Degrees of Error's takes a murder mystery as its inspiration, with the story influenced by ideas from the audience each evening. Due to this, Murder She Didn't Write and a review are very much an individual affair. What I saw in my evening at the theatre will differ significantly from what the audience will see the following evening; however, the fine performers will remain. The touring cast, in no particular order, is Lizzy Skrzypiec, Rachael Procter-Lane, Peter Baker, Caitlin Campbell, Stephen Clements, Douglas Walker, Harry Allmark, Rosalind Beeson, Sylvia Bishop, Emily Brady, Alice Lamb, Sara Garrard, Peta Maurice and Matthew Whittle. For my performance, Skrzypiec, Procter-Lane, Baker, Walker, Bishop, and Clements were on stage alongsid...

Review of Immune by R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The cover note for the script of Oladipo Agboluaje's Immune describes it as "a challenging science fiction play with a large cast", and the word challenging in this case is not a lie. This is a fast paced, multi-cast changing script which leaves little room for error for its young cast in the performance. If the script isn't enough to handle for the young performers, director Christopher Elmer-Gorry and designer Carl Davies have made the situation even more complex for the actors with the set and stage work. Having to manhandle great panels on wheels and a huge cube, which also splits in two occasionally, during scene changes requires skill, coordination and cooperation of a high level. As if all this is not enough, the actual story is epic enough for the relatively small stage of the Royal. Attempting to form an apocalyptic world (albeit only happening in Plymouth) offers challenges in itself, but Agboluaje's script does that in a sort of apocalypse in the teac...

Review of The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband at The Playhouse Theatre, Northampton

During the interval of The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband , last weeks production at The Playhouse Theatre Northampton, I got involved in a conversation between a couple sitting next to me. The lady was very much of the opinion that the play was a comedy, while the gentleman, had formed one that it was a tragedy. They were joking of course in the conversation, but it did highlight the differences that Debbie Isitt's dark comedy might have between the sexes. And also now perhaps the passing of time. When this was written in the nineties, Isitt's play was a forthright feminist play, heralding the championing over of the ladies over the man. One the ex-wife plotting to cook him, the other, the new lover, potentially already very tired of him after just three years. The husband, Kenneth (Jem Clack) elopes initially in pursuit of sex with Laura (Diane Wyman), after his nineteen years of marriage with Hilary (Corinna Leeder) has become tired and passionless. Then later, he elopes ...