“Also at the Festival Theatre I caught a fresh and warmly engaging “Twelfth Night,” directed by Seana McKenna. Set in the 1960s—the fool Feste, played with moony charm by Deborah Hay, is a guitar-strumming hippie—the production featured a strong cast, with Ms. Hay’s Feste, the terrific Scott Wentworth’s mischievous, meddling Sir Toby Belch and Laura Condlln as a schoolmarmish female Malvolio leading the play’s more raucous comedy with aplomb. (When Ms. Condlln’s Malvolio attempts to stretch her pursed mouth into a grin, the results are sublimely funny.)”

“I quite enjoyed this Twelfth Night. For those who are new to the play, McKenna’s reading has the benefit of allowing the story to come through without being muddled or obscured by directorial conceits.

It also contains two leading female performances by two enchanting women that are among the most enjoyable I have seen at the Festival!”

“McKenna’s Twelfth Night masters the required blend of mirth and melancholy

Amid this groovy ensemble is a female Malvolio (Laura Condlln), played as the ultimate square, with Condlln’s fussy gestures with her fingers akin to Tamsin Greig’s in the role at the National Theatre in 2017. It’s a superb physical performance, from her squatting as if urinating over Maria’s letter to admire its “great Ps” to some overeager thrusting of greatness. The physical comedy reaches a giddy peak when Aguecheek and Cesario bottle it during their boxing match.”
[Chris Wiegand’s trip was provided by the festival]

“Apparently, someone in Shakespeare’s time considered Twelfth Night a Christmas show – although there is no obvious reason why. But that’s how the name Twelfth Night came to be. It was traditionally shown on the twelfth day of Christmas, which was a time of festivity. Shakespeare had originally called this play What You Will a clever pun on his name, and a more apt title, when you consider that in the end, everyone got what they wanted.

The current production of Twelfth Night opening the 2024 season in Stratford on the Festival stage bears no resemblance to Christmas, but it has a surprise that could be considered a gift for those of us who grew up in the 1960s, and it ends in celebration.”

“Seana McKenna has beautifully illuminated the heart and soul of the play, never tipping it too much into comedy and sacrificing the ache of it, but also balancing both the comedy and the heartache in equal measure. I loved this production.”

“It is truly uplifting to see a production at Stratford that does justice to Shakespeare’s greatest comedy. McKenna and the cast do not go for easy laughs. Rather, they find the psychological comedy in the play and do not shy away from the play’s more serious themes. On opening night when Orsino kisses “Cesario” (now known as Viola), the audience erupted in cheers.

Perhaps Stratford audiences are ready to take Shakespeare’s comedies more seriously.”

“Jessica B. Hill shines as Viola. Not only does she immediately win over the audience with her physical comedy, but she also plays off of both Sills and Sears splendidly – having excellent chemistry with both…

Vanessa Sears offers delightful comedic timing as her Olivia transitions from a grief-stricken daughter and sister who refuses to ever love again, to a love-sick girl who is infatuated with Viola disguised as Cesario.”

“…Deborah Hay and Laura Condlln all but steal the show in roles that are almost tangential to the central narrative…

Working with some of Stratford’s best actors – and a creative team committed to bringing their performances to the fore – this Twelfth Night is a worthy, and enormously entertaining, addition to Stratford’s decades-long celebration of Shakespeare.”