Prasanna Puwanarajah’s Twelfth Night, now playing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, is a production that trades festive exuberance for introspective melancholy, offering a bold yet uneven interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies. While its inventive approach yields moments of brilliance, it struggles with tonal inconsistency and pacing, particularly in the first half.
Puwanarajah makes a decisive choice to highlight the play’s themes of loss, grief, and social cruelty over its lighter, celebratory elements. The production opens with an atmosphere of sombre reflection. The visual and tonal palette is muted, with James Cotterill’s dark, minimalist set initially creating a stark canvas for the action. However, the reveal of the enormous pipe organ halfway through the first act is a visual coup, immediately transforming the stage into a strikingly theatrical space. This organ is not just a static backdrop—it becomes a tool for comedy, concealment, and metaphor, as characters hide among its pipes and Malvolio slides down one like a fireman’s pole.
Yet, the organ’s dominance comes at a cost. Its unchanging presence hampers the play’s ability to evoke the shifting locales of Illyria, limiting the audience’s sense of place. While Zoe Spurr’s lighting design works effectively to provide mood and texture—most memorably in the haunting illumination of Malvolio’s imprisonment—it cannot fully compensate for the static set. Cotterill’s costume design is consistently excellent, providing a rich visual tapestry that enhances characterisation.
The darker mood is also reinforced by Matt Maltese’s brooding score, which strikes ominous chords that underscore the production’s melancholic undercurrent. This focus on grief and loss, especially in the early scenes, offers a fresh take on the play but also risks dulling its comedic impact.
The cast delivers uniformly strong performances, with several standout contributions that breathe life into the production. Freema Agyeman shines in her RSC debut as Olivia. Known for her recent success as the Nurse in Jamie Lloyd’s Romeo and Juliet, Agyeman brings depth and nuance to the countess. Her portrayal captures Olivia’s transition from mourning to infatuation with grace and subtlety, her vulnerability making her eventual romantic awakening all the more compelling.
Michael Grady-Hall’s Feste is a show-stealer. This production leans into the jester’s role as a meta-commentator, using Feste’s songs, magic tricks, and physical comedy to energise the play. Ingenious moments—like his playful manipulation of dangling “pull” chords—are complemented by his musical versatility, as he switches effortlessly between rock ballads and traditional a cappella. His interval antics, including juggling games with the audience, further endear him as the production’s comedic heartbeat.
Samuel West delivers a masterful performance as Malvolio, capturing both the character’s officious pomposity and his profound vulnerability. His transformation from self-important steward to humiliated victim is handled with remarkable emotional complexity. The iconic yellow stockings scene is played for laughs, but West’s final, bitter declaration—“I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you”—is a powerful moment that implicates the audience as complicit in his suffering. West’s performance is a poignant reminder of the cruelty embedded within the play’s comedic structure.
Gwyneth Keyworth’s Viola offers a solid interpretation. Keyworth convincingly navigates Viola’s androgynous disguise and the emotional strain of her assumed identity, though her storyline occasionally feels overshadowed by the production’s focus on its ensemble. Tony’s Sir Toby Belch is another highlight, his portrayal of drunken mischief and reckless abandon injecting much-needed energy into the play’s more languorous moments.
The production’s tonal shifts are both a strength and a weakness. While the darker, introspective mood adds depth to Shakespeare’s text, it also slows the pacing, particularly in the exposition-heavy first half. The second act fares much better, with tighter pacing and a greater emphasis on comedic set pieces/props. Puwanarajah balances light and dark more successfully here, allowing moments of levity to coexist with the play’s underlying melancholy.
The abundance of subplots is another double-edged sword. While they provide opportunities for a range of characters to shine, they also detract from the coherence of the central narrative. This is most evident in the handling of Viola’s story, which feels diluted by the time devoted to secondary arcs.
Puwanarajah’s Twelfth Night is a bold and thought-provoking interpretation that succeeds in highlighting the play’s darker undercurrents but occasionally stumbles in delivering its comedic potential. The production is elevated by standout performances—particularly from Freema Agyeman, Michael Grady-Hall, and Samuel West—and a visually inventive design. While not a traditional festive treat, this Twelfth Night offers a fresh perspective on Shakespeare’s exploration of love, identity, and social cruelty.
Twelfth Night runs at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon until 18 January 2025. Tickets are available at rsc.org.uk or by calling 01789 331111.
Photography throughout from Helen Murray.
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