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Director
Stephen Beresford
Design
Jonathan
Fensom
Music
Sara Dillon
Performers
Malvolio
Paul Bhattacharjee
Sebastian
Raaghav Chanana
Olivia
Neha Dubey
Feste
Kulvinder
Ghir
Orsino
Raza Jaffrey
Viola
Paul Bazely
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Albery Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Company
18
August - 30 October 2004
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Stephen
Beresford's imaginative decision
to place Shakespeare's Twelfth
Night in
India and use a largely Indian
cast is a masterstroke. So
many of the comic lines, especially
those of Feste the Clown,
which can seem archly contrived
in English, come off with
sparkling panache when played
to the full, as they are by
Kulvinder Ghir, with a mixture
of Indian graciousness but
courteous put-down. Beresford
is helped that the location
is no issue in the play. Any
houses will do for Orsino
and Olivia, so long as there
is a distance to be travelled
between them by Viola/Cesario,
and any shore will do for
Antonio, Sebastian and Viola
to be washed up on. The set,
therefore, was functional,
though a good deal of witty
play was made with water.
There's so much to enjoy in
this production, which definitely
should not be missed, that
my few reservations can wait
for a moment. First, the play
is played with great gusto
and pace. The acting is so
energetic that the audience,
at least on the night I went,
was caught up in the overall
good humour. The best parts
come with the famous comic
scenes featuring the ingenious
Maria, the blustering Belch
and the ingenuous Aguecheek.
I don't think I shall ever
be able to see Maria again
without thinking of the wonderful
performance by Harvey Virdi.
She comes straight from the
Indian-mama school immortalised
on British TV by the Kumar's
of no. 42. As so often with
Shakespeare when the right
characterisation is found
the words seem to flow as
though being spontaneously
invented. This is exactly
what happens with Harvey Virdi.
Maria here is an older servant
than normal, and so able to
seem like an old nanny to
the mourning Olivia. Her plan
to set up Malvolio seems therefore
as much as therapy for her
mistress as a set-up for the
pompous Malvolio. This adds
a touch of pathos to the comedy
that is entirely Shakespearean.
But this would not work if
Maria's accomplices were not
also brilliantly played, as
well their target Malvolio.
Malvolio, too, resonates as
widely and uniquely as Maria.
Paul Bhattacharjee's high-minded
but pedantic protection both
of his mistress and his own
domestic position seem exactly
like a civil servant from
the Raj. This makes the engineering
of his down-fall like a bid
for independence over bureaucracy
add another layer to the comedy.
Bhattacharjee manages something
else though. He is not only
believable duped into believing
Maria's fake letter, and wonderfully
over the top in yellow garters,
but when the truth is out
and he realises he is the
victim of a malevolent trick
his wronged dignity touches
a chord that eluded some of
the other characters. In the
Olivia mÈnage, Sir Toby Belch
and Sir Andrew Aguecheek are
also played with gusto and
new insights. Instead of a
paunchy, elderly Belch Shiv
Grewal is young, smooth and
trendy: too trendy, too smooth,
too fashionable, too much
on the look-out to make what
he thinks will be wealthy
match for his niece. Always
on the make he has all the
harmless guile of Dell Trotter
in Only Fools and Horses.
Aguecheek, whose inept hopes
are raised by Belch, but who
is obviously inept is magically
caught by Paul Bazely, whose
fluctuations between courage
and cowardice are a superb
act.
I found some of the more serious
scenes less comfortable. In
the effort to emphasise the
comedy and pace of the work,
the opening and concluding
scenes did not quite manage
to achieve Shakespeare's shift
from laughter to reflection.
Though earnest in love Raza
Jaffrey spoke the magical
opening lines as though they
were memorised poetry. Unlike
Feste who makes knowingness
part of his armoury, Jaffrey
could not make the elaborate
musical metaphor at the beginning
sound as though he knew what
he was talking about. Much
the same might be said about
Viola, whose initial vicarioius
wooing of Olivia lacked poetry
and the right pace. Much of
this is due to the desire
to make these scenes pass
quickly to make way for the
comedy, but I think this is
a mistake. In a musical score
these are slower, more lyrical
passages, so the poetry needs
to spoken less like a machine-gun
with unrelenting strong accents.
Some legato is needed, some
relishing of the text. Far
from slowing the play, this
can add a dimension and achieve
what the performance did not
on the night I went and that
is make a transition between
comedy and seriousness.
Finally something needs to
be said about Feste the Clown.
In almost all ways this is
a magnificent performance
by Kulvinder Ghir. Sometimes
fakir, sometimes farceur he
dominates the scenes in which
he appears. He is completely
believable as Olivia's foil
when he does not leave her
at the beginning of the play
to satisfy her mourning. He
is the knowing companion of
the Malvolio plot. Yet, there
is a flaw. He more than any
of the other characters could
not quite manage to change
gear convincingly enough to
change the mood of the play.
He camps up the role uproariously,
which is terrific, but he
cannot de-camp enough. This
is most notable in the songs.
He is given poor music to
work with so in a way in "O
mistress mine!" it does
not matter that the rhythm
disappears to make the onomatopoeic
point about singing high and
low. But the music ought to
be able to achieve a kind
of frame around its words
that allows the pace to change
and some thoughts to be charged
with pathos. This was most
notably missing at the end.
Ghir would have been better
speaking "When that I
was and a little tiny boy"
than trying to sing it to
the inane music required.
Instead he maintained his
high camp distortion. The
result was that all the sentiment
of the reconciliations just
achieved were lost. This hardens
the message of the play. All
the energy to pair off Orsino
and Viola as well as save
Olivia from Belch's man Aguecheek
and match her to Sebastian
are now scene has just high
camp too. The audience laughed
all the way through the song.
What was it for but to be
a laugh? But it isn't. The
words are filled with Shakespearean
fatalism. To be fair, apart
from his last shrug, Ghir
did not have the audience
for his final switch. But
I wonder if on any night his
manner will allow the matter
of the verse to register.
But I must not end with a
reservation as there is so
much to enjoy about the play,
and the performance brings
out details and facets that
even for the most hardened
Shakespearean are novel and
enlightening.
Roderick Swanston |
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