By Bridgette M. Redman
The exuberant beginning featured tie-dyed hippies and spaced-out peaceniks grooving out to '60s music in what promised to be one big party. Had the party continued in that vein, Shakespeare West's opening night performance of "Twelfth Night" would have been an evening of delightful, comedic fun. Instead, poor vocal performances let the air out of this comedy of separated twins and mixed-up love polygons.
The play's concept works well. It is easy to see Illyria as a place of free love where revelers light up strange substances, with hair and clothing that is long and flowing. It is especially effective to have the dour steward Malvolio, played by Director Barton Bund, duped not just with words, but with LSD poured into a burrito that he finds and consumes. His madness becomes not just that of doomed, misguided love for his mistress, but that of an overdose of drugs that plays havoc with his senses.
No matter how or where it is set, Shakespeare's plays live and die in the words, which must capture the audience and drag them into the story. There were some actors on the stage who could do this, most notably Bund; Qmara Peaches Black, the actress playing Maria; Marisa Dluge, the actress playing Olivia; and Dan Johnson, the actor playing Sir Toby Belch. Most, though, lacked the necessary vocal chops.
Divin Huff's Viola moved in a stately, controlled fashion that brought beautiful contrast to those around her, helping to make her stand out as a stranger in Ilyria and one who captured the eye of the fair Olivia. Yet her voice was so soft, that she often could not be heard. This situation was at its worse when she played the scenes closest to the audience, as her volume raised when she moved back to the band shell. While the scenes in which she attempts to seduce Olivia for Orsino were sultry and amorous, the words which she used were lost.
Danny Friedland's Sir Andrew Aguecheek delivered his lines at a machine gun pace, spitting out the words rapid-fire and trampling over the puns and foolishness that make Aguecheek the unwitting clown and gull to Feste's more clever and wise fool. Linda Rabin Hammell filled the role of Feste in this production. The look and costuming were marvelous, visual comedy that fit in perfectly with the world of this Ilyria. Her delivery, though, was marred by the constant "ums" that littered her speech, making her sound uncertain and taking away the punch to her puns.
Black and Johnson were fun to watch as the connivers whose practical jokes won them revenge on Malvolio and as lovers whose attraction to each other was played immediately and with fervor. It is no surprise at the end when they marry, for they are partners with great chemistry throughout the show.
Likewise, Dluge's Olivia brings great animation to the role. It is easy to see why she has so many suitors who want to marry her and bask in her delightful countenance. She teases, flirts, drinks and commands with assurance and charisma. Her gothic dress accented by a pale face and raven hair is one of the few allowances to her mourning, and even that does nothing to suppress her spirit. She is the perfect balance to Huff, and her words always carry and are delivered clearly, even when tinged with the slur of too much drink.
Live theater is allowed to ask much of its audience. A suspension of disbelief is a standard expectation that actors have of their audience. It can help, though, to throw the audience a sop, lest the suspense be stretched so far as to take them out of the story. Few audience members will expect Viola and Sebastian to be played by true twins or lookalikes. In this case, though, the audience is left to wonder whether everyone in Illyria is having a shared delusion, for there is nothing about Sebastian or Viola that would lead one to think they were related, much less mistaken for each other. They were not dressed the same, their hair was not done the same, nor did they even move in similar fashions. Huff was dignified and elegant, whereas Jonathan West's Sebastian was a wild hipster whose moves were big and loud.
As a concept, Shakespeare West's "Twelfth Night" works. It is the execution of the storytelling in which it falls short and saps the energy and fun out of what initially promised to be an enjoyable play.
REVIEW:
'Twelfth Night'
Blackbird Theatre/Shakespeare West at West Park Band Shell, 300 N. Seventh, Ann Arbor. Thursday-Saturday through Aug. 27. $25. 734-332 3848. http://www.blackbirdtheatre.org
