Review: TWELFTH NIGHT, Network Theatre

It’s good to see theatre is alive and well at the Network Theatre. Tucked next to Waterloo station, the second press night for Twelfth Night was buzzing - and The Acting Gymnasium group kept that energy up. Following their successful production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it was a treat to see Gavin McAlinden’s vision come alive with this high-chemistry cast.

Imagining Shakespeare without Elizabethan costumes and Italian balconies is an odd thing to do, but setting his comedies in a nightclub environment seems to be a trend - the recent West End production of Much Ado About Nothing had a pink confetti stage. Designer Camille Godechoux has thought about everything, from Feste’s vintage green tracksuit to the neon bar sign. With 70s club anthems as transition music between each scene, the heady atmosphere of disco never let up.

Disco is where it opens. Orsino (Charles Worthington) arrives on stage with sexual prowess, spinning the ladies around. The one lady he cannot woo is Lady Olivia, played by Philly Lee, whose clear diction and excited school-girl-like flirting with Cesario make her stand out. When Viola (Molly Coates) - disguised as Cesario - is instructed by Orsino to communicate his love to Olivia, she ends up being charmed by the Duke’s smooth turns of phrase and tendency to take his shirt off. In the second half, Sebastian’s (Tom Hilton) lipsync of ‘Loving You’ after Olivia has mistakenly asked him for marriage was incredibly committed to. It is a play of misunderstanding - what Shakespeare isn’t - which sometimes makes it a little hard to follow. However, the in-your-face comedy of this production mostly kept us on track.

There are several comedy stand-outs, including Aryan Chavada’s burping Sir Toby Belch (geddit), beaten up by female suitors in his first scene, and his hapless coke-doing companion, Andrew Auguechee (Phillip Carr). Having successfully tricked Malvolio with the letter, they and Fabian (Alex Georgiadis) fall out from behind the bar laughing. They’re a hilariously incapable trio, with Maria (Alexandra Thomas) as the cunning brains behind the operation.

It’s a production that plays to its strengths: Eva Tritschler’s singing as the fool Feste, physical comedy - especially from Viola and Helen Probert as Malvolio - and a cast that can all genuinely dance. Scenes such as the “kung fu” fight (which mostly involves Sir Toby and Sebastian running around one another) remind us that Shakespeare intended to make audiences laugh. The only let down is the occasionally wavering line delivery, proving just how hard it is to perform the Bard.

Overall, it is great fun to watch and The Acting Gymnasium performers truly look like they are enjoying themselves. Bringing the audience on stage for a boogie is a lovely final touch that speaks to Gavin McAlinden’s thoughtful direction.

Shakespeare’s gender-swapped romance reimagined as a glitz-and-glam 70s Saturday Night Fever-dream.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Ruby Skippings

Twelfth Night plays at London’s Network Theatre until 7 June, with further info here.