British Black and Asian Shakespeare Performance Database
Twelfth Night (1994): Salisbury Playhouse, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
PRINCIPAL CAST: Selina Boyack (Viola); James Bryce (Feste); Lolita Chakrabarti (Olivia); David Fielder (Sir Toby Belch); Andrew Havill (Orsino); Peter Kelly (Malvolio).
This production ran from 13 October - 5 November 1994 at the Salisbury Playhouse and from 11 November - 3 December 1994 at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh. It also toured to China, according to Faz Singhateh's biography in the programme for Salisbury Playhouse's 2002 production of The Duchess of Malfi.
"This is a pitifully under-cast and feeble production. I wanted to like it because it is a co-production by Kenny Ireland's Lyceum and Deborah Paige's Salisbury Playhouse: two serious, committed civic theatres, under serious, committed directors, sharing their resources in hard times to give their audiences quality drama. Alas, what you get is shoddy and coarse. Sir Toby is a vulgar drunk, with his grubby clothes in permanent disarray. Malvolio is not somebody who runs a grand house, but a prissy buffoon who walks as if he had piles. Feste, the Fool, is grim and surly, and he can't sing at all well, which is a bit of a drawback in this most musical of comedies. Orsino is a graceless nitwit who gabbles his lines frightfully. Viola looks both smug and sullen, which is quite a feat when you think about it. Her voice is innocent of anything lyrical, melancholy, humorous or poetic: a dreary, unfeeling, unattractive performance." ~ John Peter, Sunday Times, 20 November 1994
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