British Black and Asian Shakespeare Performance Database
Twelfth Night (2009): Royal Shakespeare Company, The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
PRINICPAL CAST: Nancy Carroll (Viola); James Fleet (Sir Andrew Aguecheek); Alexandra Gilbreath (Olivia); Richard McCabe (Sir Toby Belch); Pamela Nomvete (Maria); Jo Stone-Fewings (Orsino); Richard Wilson (Malvolio); Miltos Yerolemou (Feste).
The first performance of this production took place on 15 October 2009.
"[Doran's] decision to stage it in the Greece of the early 19th century, when it was the destination of Byron and other young British aristocrats, allows for lots of exotic costumes, hubble-bubble pipes and taverna music (at any moment you expect the cast to start smashing plates), but the period seems merely picturesque rather than pertinent." ~ Charles Spencer, "Wilson offers low comedy in place of high art", Daily Telegraph, 23 October 2009
"Shakespeare's Illyria is a cultural melting pot, cleverly shifted to the early 19th century. This is the era when Europe's Napoleonic wars meant English travellers, embarking on their Grand Tour, ventured further east into Greece, Turkey, Syria or Lebanon....Jo Stone-Fewings' Orsino fancies himself as a Byronic ex-pat, followed by a band of musicians playing an alluring fusion of Occidental/Oriental music (by Paul Englishby). Meanwhile, Richard McCabe's Sir Toby Belch looks like a Toby jug gone native, English, but puffing on hookahs." ~ Kate Bassett, "Revenge drama? Hamlet was just a gifted amateur", Independent on Sunday, 25 October 2009
"No point in looking for overmuch consistency here. What matters is the felicitous blend of period European manners and detail (gorgeous frocks for Olivia and exquisitely turned tailcoats and booted breeches for Orsino and for Viola disguised as Cesario) with Ali Baba costuming, carpets and cushions." ~ Patrick Carnegy, Spectator, 31 October 2009, in Theatre Record 2009, Issue 21
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