by Charles Kruger

Okay, I’ll start by admitting that “Twelfth Night” is, perhaps, my favorite Shakespearean play. (Of course I’m hedging – how do you pick out a favorite from so much excellence?)

Back in graduate school, when I was a baby would-be actor, I had the great fortune to play the role of Malvolio – one of the five or six greatest comic characters in English literature. It changed me.

And it taught me that this light, comic romance had, swimming just beneath the surface, some of old Will’s deepest thoughts and feelings about love and death and good and evil and madness and sanity and ambition and all that other stuff he liked to talk about it.

Shakespeare addresses all these deep subjects again and again in his tragedies, but in Twelfth Night, damned if he doesn’t make them dance a quadrille!

It is as if all the fearsome demons that haunt us stop their stomping about – perhaps in honor of Christmas (this is “Twelfth Night” after all)  – and put on a charming masquerade.

Here the fearsome Puritan – the sort of man whom, not too long before Shakespeare’s day, cried down death upon casual sinners – is an ambitious clown. Here the professional clown, Feste,  a devilish figure, who gleefully performs a cruel action upon his enemy, and is changed for the better. Here the cruelties of love, and the pain of uncontrolled sexual passion, tamed by music, dance, poetry and the fluidity of gender.

There’s nothing like it.

The plot is convoluted, but in the capable hands of Marin Shakespeare, all becomes clear quite quickly.

The production is full of gems. Perhaps the most startling is Robert Parsons not so merry interpretation of Sir Toby Belch. In almost every production I’ve seen, Toby is a comic, life-loving drunk, full of joy and fun. But Parsons digs deep, and reveals the pain, anger, and resentment that lies beneath the frivolity. Also quite wonderful are Johnny Moreno as the self centered Orsino. who eventually pulls his head out of his ass, to put it bluntly. As the quite cruel Olivia, Charisse Lorieux not only acts up a storm, but dances beautifully. And so it goes throughout the entire cast of characters, all of whom deserve more kudos than space allows me.

But I must say something about Michael Gene Sullivan’s hilarious showboat of a Malvolio. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Your reaction will be similar, I promise. And Adrian Deane’s gentle Feste is also delightful.

The amazing thing about Twelfth Night, I think, is the extraordinary growth arc experienced by each and every character, and, in this production, this is abundantly clear.

In keeping with that theme of all the characters amazing growth, this adaption has a couple of surprise twists in the end – which I’m sure would be approved by Shakespeare as they are entirely consistent with the play as a whole. I won’t spoil it here, but I think it will please most audiences.

And for the rest, well, you’ll live to see another play you’ll like better, because it is clear after all these years that Marin Shakespeare will continue to deliver the Elizabethan goods!

‘Twelfth Night’ plays at Marin Shakespeare through September 3. For further information, click here.

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Rating: **** (For an explanation of Theatrestorm’s rating scale, click here.)
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“Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare, adapted, directed, and choreographed by Bridgette Loriaux. Scenic Design: Nina Ball. Costume Design; Bethany Deal. Dance Captain: Adrian Deane. Sound Design: Ben Euphrat. Light Design: Stephanie Anne Johnson. Vocal Director: Justin P.Lopez. Fight Director: Dave Maier. Fight Captain: Johnny Moreno. Composer: David Warner. Prop Design: Randy Wong-Westbrooke. Intimacy Director: Eleana Wright.

Cast:

Mariah: Nancy Carlin. Feste: Adrian Deane. Viola: Stevie DeMott. Antonio: Justin P. Lopez. Olivia: Charisse Lorieux. Orsino: Johnny Moreno. Sir Toby Belch: Robert Parsons. Steve Price: Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Sebastian: Salim Razawi. Malvolio: Michael Gene Sullivan.