Review: TWELFTH NIGHT, Theatre On Kew

Shakespeare has a distinctly Aussie twang in Kew Gardens this summer. The Australian Shakespeare Company has returned to the gorgeous surroundings of south-west London, this time with a light-hearted, if meandering, take on Twelfth Night.

The story of mistaken identity, love triangles, and separated twins is one of the Bard's best-loved comedies. Louise Hoare is a sympathetic Viola, Hugh Sexton, (Macbeth in last year's production) is an amiable, if underused Orsino. Nicole Nabout brings a wilder, more sexual energy to Olivia and Alex Cooper acts as a musical compere as Feste.

This production glosses over the deeper themes of loss, self-delusion and social class imbalance and really leans more into the bawdy comedy; Jackson McGovern has a ball as a very funny Sir Toby, breaking the fourth wall repeatedly as he drinks from shoes, swipes cans of Fosters from various hiding places and generally causes mayhem. He is accompanied Sir Andrew, played with a superior air by Tony Rive. They are ably abetted by a nice-but dim Fabian (Larissa Teale) and a wily Maria, played with huge fun and wit by Monica Nash.

This comedic light-heartedness makes for light and fun evening, but subverts the more serious aspects of the play. Maverick Newman's aloof Malvolio is less a stiff and dour puritan, becoming a more sympathetic character than usual, who is misused and tricked by others who want to make sport with his feelings. His vow for revenge is tinged with genuine sadness at his treatment and seems justified considering what has come before.

There's a rough and ready energy to the production that is sometimes endearing (when Cooper has to suddenly retune his guitar on stage) and sometimes amateurish, such as the terrible sound dropouts throughout. The costume design follows the same mish-mash theme; the officer appears as a suggestive S&M caricature with blue leather hot pants and spangly knee-high boots, while Viola and Sebastian rock up looking like they are dressed for a Ziggy Stardust-themed party with terrible red wigs and lighting bolts drawn on their faces. Malvolio's yellow garters are fairly standard by comparison.

At nearly three hours running time, the show could do with a little tightening and some of the musical sections could be cut completely. An opening rendition of a Twelfth Night-themed version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas", which retains the references to Christmas, is an odd way to start the show. 

Still, there is lots of enjoy and you could do much worse than being gently amused on a summer's evening with this fun and carefree production. 

Twelfth Night is at Theatre on Kew until 30 August

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