Twelfth Night
Bard on the Beach’s modern adaptation delivers laughs
Set in 1913 at the seaside What You Will Hotel and Spa, this is a delightful version of Shakespeare’s classic comedy that emphasizes humour over melancholy. The beautiful set of topiaries, signposts, and bright white furniture, along with the flawless costumes and props brought to life this tale of love and mistaken identity, and the cast did justice to these memorable characters.
After being shipwrecked off the coast of Illyria, Viola (Rachel Cairns), disguised as the page Cesario, becomes a servant to Duke Orsino (Todd Thomson) and ends up falling in love with him. Orsino is in love with the hotel owner, Olivia (Jennifer Lines), but Olivia ends up falling for Cesario when he comes to declare his master’s love for her.
While this mixed up love triangle unfolds, Feste (Johnathon Young), the fool and lobby lounge singer, keeps everyone entertained while Olivia’s uncle Toby Belch (Bill Dow) and his friends Andrew Aguecheek (Richard Newman), Fabiana (Barbara Pollard), and Maria (Naomi Wright) play a nasty joke on the hotel manager, Malvolio (Allan Zinyk).
One major theme throughout this version is sexual innuendo, and there is even some partial nudity during a steamy sauna/pool scene. This was very effective in amplifying the gender confusion between Orsino and Cesario.
Young as Feste did a marvelous job and his musical antics were enjoyable, as he often led the others in song. It will be interesting to see him in a completely different role as Hamlet, also playing in Bard’s mainstage tent this season.
Zinyk’s performance as Malvolio also stood out. His reading of the forged letter declaring Olivia’s love for him was extremely enjoyable. He is portrayed as a more comical character in this production, eliciting less pity from the audience. While I still felt sorry for him, it seems that the other characters showed more compassion towards him in the final scene than I’ve seen in the past.
Lines was impeccable as Olivia, delivering her lines so naturally, and Dow as Toby Belch and Newman as his sidekick kept us laughing as the bumbling drunks. Having seen a few versions of Twelfth Night over the years, I have to say this one is by far my favourite. It is full of hilarity while maintaining emotionally affective and nuanced performances by the entire cast.
Hamlet
The most beloved Shakespearean play gets a modern facelift
It was a bit hard to get used to the fact that this production features the characters using iPads and iPhones in many scenes, but the fact that it is set in present day Denmark and is still an extremely powerful story, speaks to the timeless nature of Shakespeare’s plays.
Hamlet is a huge challenge for any theatre company or director to take on, as they add to the multitude of adaptations and try to breathe new life into what is arguably Shakespeare’s most difficult and most studied work. Collaborators Kim Collier and Johnathon Young were able to meet this challenge with a bold modern version that is captivating all the way through.
As the audience filled the Mainstage Tent, Hamlet (Young) gazed out the sliding glass doors at the back of the tent, paced, and then laid down looking at his iPhone. Young was deeply in character before the play even began, and he held this during the entire three hours, delivering passionate soliloquies and portraying Hamlet’s madness brilliantly.
The speedy remarriage of his mother, Gertrude (Barbara Pollard), to his uncle, Claudius (Bill Dow), sends Hamlet into a fit of anger. After his father’s ghost sets him on a quest for revenge, he slowly becomes mad as he confronts the inhumanity of those around him and struggles with what it means to be alive. His love interest, Ophelia (Rachel Cairns), is confused when Hamlet suddenly rejects her and yells “get thee to a nunnery.” After Ophelia and her father, Polonius (Richard Newman), both meet tragic ends, Ophelia’s brother, Laertes (Todd Thomson), is set on his own revenge mission.
Playing with gender, Hamlet’s friend, Horatio, is played by Jennifer Lines, and Rosencrantz is Guildenstern’s girlfriend, played by Naomi Wright. The only other comical characters are the gravediggers (Duncan Fraser and Allan Zinyk) who sing a song while pretending their shovels are guitars. The music and sound design in this version suites the tone and setting very well, and it is also very modern, even including The Beatles’ “Revolution.” Adding to the technological focus, Hamlet uses a remote control to turn music on and off, but at times this seemed a bit distracting and cheesy.
The problem with the use of modern technology is that it sometimes came off as forced and overdone. There was also a scene where the dialogue said Hamlet had sent “letters,” so real letters were used as props, but it seemed odd that someone in England would send a letter to Denmark in 2013 when they could have just sent an email.
The costumes are largely grey, white, and black, and done in simple lines. The play within the play that Hamlet puts on to uncover Claudius’ guilt, The Murder of Gonzago, is done with puppets and projected onto a screen. Having waited years since I first started attending Bard on the Beach to see Hamlet, I was overjoyed when I heard it would be performed this season, and once again Bard on the Beach delivered an amazing show.
