Christopher Luscombe’s 2017 Royal Shakespeare Company production of the Bard’s 1602 comedy not only updates the setting to late-19th-century England (alternating scenes between town and country), but effectively (albeit anachronistically) turns it into a sort of 1930s musical, with songs that suggest Gilbert and Sullivan or Noël Coward. It also adds a colonial/imperial element to the mix by making the main sibling characters Indian: Viola (Dinita Gohil) and Sebastian (Esh Alladi)—the shipwrecked and separated twins who become involved (Viola dons the guise of a man, with typically uncomfortable results) with lovesick Duke Orsino (Nicholas Bishop) and Countess Olivia (Kara Tointon), the latter still mourning the loss of her father and brother. And the same is true of Olivia’s servant Feste (Beruce Khan). All of these alterations—along with a transposition of the initial scenes—might bother purists, but they actually work reasonably well, and the secondary plot, involving the humiliation of Olivia’s stuffy steward Malvolio (Adrian Edmondson) by her uncle Toby (John Hodgkinson) and his friend Aguecheek (Michael Cochrane), is played more or less traditionally. The sets and costumes are elegant and the cast is overall excellent, with Edmondson and Cochrane in particular showing their strong comic chops, and while the romantic interplay of the Orsino-Olivia-Viola-Sebastian quartet sometimes feels a mite too decorous and understated, this is ultimately a sumptuous, enjoyable rendition of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy. Extras include an audio commentary by Luscombe, an interview with Gohil, and a cast gallery. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
Twelfth Night
(2017) 141 min. DVD: $24.99. Opus Arte (dist. by Naxos of America). Volume 34, Issue 3
Twelfth Night
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