Ken+Debby+Moira+I went to see Twelfth Night at the RSC last night (Director: David Farr). Felix was playing Fabian.
After a pre-theatre early supper in Carluccio’s, we all enjoyed a wonderful evening of theatre at its very best. The technical design and production were hugely impressive and brilliantly inventive and the actors were all first class. Nicholas Day made an excellent Sir Toby Belch, but Jonathan Slinger’s performance as Malvolio was simply stunning. I’ve seen the play performed professionally at least a couple times before, but this was by far the best I’d seen. Quite hilarious at times and much appreciated by the full house. One of the unexpected bonuses of the production for me was the beautiful music - especially the song that brought the performance to an end (sung/played by Kevin McMonagle and composed by Adem Ilhan).
I know I’ve said this many, many times before, but I just love the magic of live theatre… and this was something VERY special.
Moira+I stayed in Stratford overnight with Hannah+Fee+Ursula and spent a lovely morning chilling+mooching around the town (actually, I ended up taking Ursula on a route march along riverside paths and back streets to give her parents some well-earned respite!) before having a special private back-stage theatre tour from Felix and then an excellent lunch together in the third floor restaurant at the RSC.
VERY good times.
Photo: that special air of anticipation… photograph taken as the audience began to settle in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre before last night’s performance.
After a pre-theatre early supper in Carluccio’s, we all enjoyed a wonderful evening of theatre at its very best. The technical design and production were hugely impressive and brilliantly inventive and the actors were all first class. Nicholas Day made an excellent Sir Toby Belch, but Jonathan Slinger’s performance as Malvolio was simply stunning. I’ve seen the play performed professionally at least a couple times before, but this was by far the best I’d seen. Quite hilarious at times and much appreciated by the full house. One of the unexpected bonuses of the production for me was the beautiful music - especially the song that brought the performance to an end (sung/played by Kevin McMonagle and composed by Adem Ilhan).
I know I’ve said this many, many times before, but I just love the magic of live theatre… and this was something VERY special.
Moira+I stayed in Stratford overnight with Hannah+Fee+Ursula and spent a lovely morning chilling+mooching around the town (actually, I ended up taking Ursula on a route march along riverside paths and back streets to give her parents some well-earned respite!) before having a special private back-stage theatre tour from Felix and then an excellent lunch together in the third floor restaurant at the RSC.
VERY good times.
Photo: that special air of anticipation… photograph taken as the audience began to settle in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre before last night’s performance.
PS: Hannah+Felix are renting a small house from the RSC for the period of Fee's "run" (until October) - it's directly opposite the theatre and provides him with a daily commute of less than 30 seconds!!
PPS: double-click on the image to enlarge!
1 comment:
..funny how people see things differently. I too saw 12th Night but thought it dire: casting not great, twins nothing alike, Malvolio not sufficiently pompous at the beginning so the end was just cruel; setting was repetitively dull, no light, and pointless - set in the caribbean? The count in beach clothes; a sexually voracious olivia...
A laugh a minute, satisfy the lowest common denominator production. Crude and played for cheap laughs. There have been many excellent RSC productions - this isn't one of them.
On the other hand like you, I find the experience of a trip to stratford always uplifting - always providing material for discussion.
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