The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2020 - Issue 27

bite theatre I f William Shakespeare was miraculously alive today, I wonder what he would have thought of Simon Godwin’s modern version of his play Twelfth Night which sees several of his characters dancing to techno music. This comedic production about triple love triangles and mistak- en identities has a lot to celebrate with eccentric parties and cabaret shows as well as the poetry of love and desire. With 13 main characters, three of the traditional male roles - Mal- volia, Feste, and Fabia are re-imagined as women. Following a storm at sea, with thunder and lightning over- head, Viola (Tamara Lawrence) is washed ashore but her twin brother Sebastian (Daniel Ezra) is missing. Meanwhile, Orsino (Oliver Chris) turns up in his small green sports car outside a house followed by his assistant Curio (Emmanuel Kojo) on a Vespa, and a guitarist and saxophone player whom Orsino has commissioned to play while he tries to woo his love interest shouting, “If music be the food of love then play on” but his efforts are not awarded. Thanks to the theatre’s revolving stage which has a stainless steel pole in the centre that acts as an axis for the five pairs of triangular pieces of scenery, we are taken to another scene where Viola is in hospital being visited by the ship’s captain and discussing the possibility of whether her twin brother survived or not. Viola later disguises herself as a young man called Cesario, wearing a beige overcoat over a white, knee- length, collarless smock shirt, teamed with black trousers and boots. While she makes her way into the service of Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, her twin brother dressed in the same attire is pursued by Antonio (Adam Best), a sailor who saved him from the shipwreck and confesses his adoration and love for him, but Sebastian lets him down gently. Meanwhile, Orsino tasks Cesario with delivering his message of love to Countess Olivia (Phoebe Fox), the object of his unrequited love, who rejects it by saying, “I cannot love him”. Intrigued by Cesario, she is happy for him to pass by again. What develops is Olivia’s love and desire for Cesario which Viola has to retract from without revealing her true gender. To make matters worse, Malvolia (Tamsin Greig), Olivia’s head steward, is also in love with Olivia and is tricked into thinking she feels the same when she finds a letter with the countess’ seal and what she thinks is her handwriting. She has no knowledge she was set up by Fabia (Imogen Doel) and Olivia’s cousin, Sir Toby Belch (Tim McMullan). Eccentric drunks Sir Toby Belch and his sidekick friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Daniel Rigby) provide entertainment as they party with Feste (Doon Mackichan) to techno music, with Maria (Niky Wardley) trying to stop the music. Toby dressed in a pink floral patterned jacket teamed with a frilly purple shirt, a plum-coloured waistcoat, and tight grey jeans with black Cuban-heeled boots slightly slur his words while Andrew in a pink checked suit, cerise shirt and tie, pink socks and purple suede shoes sports a man bun. Feste, a clown previously employed by Olivia’s father, wears a green khaki shirt over a green and gold leotard vest, black shorts over orange tights, and gold sparkle ankle boots. She sings and performs throughout as well as getting into dia- logue with the other characters. The stern Malvolia usual- ly dressed in pristine black culottes and blouse, surprises us when she dons a yellow bodysuit with yellow tights and TWELFTH NIGHT