Premiere US Premiere
Production Language Russian
Country of Origin Russia
Description One of Shakespeare's most effervescent and mutable comedies, Twelfth Night undergoes a delightful, gender-bent makeover by the Olivier Award-winning director Declan Donnellan. It's a Twelfth Night operating at full comedic throttle, designed with elegant economy by Nick Ormerod.
Shakespeare's salient themes—the slippery slope of romantic love, separation from family, mistaken identity—shine through, thrown into brilliant relief by the expert, all-male ensemble of Russian stage, film, and television stars brought together for Moscow's Chekhov International Theatre Festival. This is the way it was done in Shakespeare's day and the conceit works wonderfully here. Olivia longs for Orsino's attendant Cesario, actually a woman named Viola, who in turn is madly in love with Orsino. Further convolutions occur when the lovelorn Olivia falls for Sebastian, twin of Cesario (Viola). Male? Female? Who can tell, and does it really matter? What results is one of the funniest and most physical stagings of Twelfth Night you've ever seen. The fact that the cast performs in their native Russian (titles are in the Bard's English) adds yet another layer of magic to this incandescent production.
Identifier 2006f.00854
