Theatre Head - Twelfth Night

Every time I leave the theatre I find myself with a handful of memories that shine the brightest.

I pick over them in my hands, like little treasures.

Twelfth Night, currently playing at the National Theatre, gave plenty.

The last time I studied the play was in year 9. It was my favourite Shakespeare play, mainly because of the farce in it. Loved a bit of slapstick, even then. But the melancholy notes started to seep in afterwards, and suddenly it was a little less easy to love - at least in the same way.

As we left during the interval to get some ice-cream (#winninglife) my friend and I turned to each other and said, a little surprised - "This is good! Really good!" I don't know why we were surprised. It was a National Theatre production of Shakespeare starring Tamsin Greig.

It should be good.

But it's Shakespeare. A play performed thousands, if not millions of times. What more could you find in it? But they always do. Lose something old, gain something new.

The setting felt so natural, you struggled to remember if a hot tub was actually in the original play. The ensemble worked beautifully together, and the strange melancholy notes were woven tightly in, core to the play, not uncomfortable.

Though Tamsin Greig grabbed the headlines by being cast as Malvolio, a couple of other usually male parts were also played by women, and despite this, Shakespeare still didn't return to set fire to the auditorium.

Tamsin Greig should grab headlines though. She was extraordinary. Her physical movement alone was often mesmerising and a lesson to all physical comedians. And though I expected the gender change to exploit Malvolio now as a frustrated, closeted gay spinster, that wasn't the case. Her sexuality was not controversial, instead focusing on her inherent absurdity.

Tamara Lawrance as Viola was sprightly and responsive, infusing the role with a mixture of bewilderment and confident charm.

And Olivia, a pretty thankless role to be honest (Play: Here, you can't have the man you love, but here's another one who looks a bit like him. Olivia: Oh, okay...), was played painfully hilariously by Phoebe Fox.

Oh, and there's wicked music, with Hannah Lawrence killing it on about a thousand wind instruments.

And the memory gems? Tamsin Greig as Malvolio, splashing sodden and ecstatically in the fountain, Phoebe Fox's look of desolation when she finds the truth about Cesario, okay there's too many, but above all there's the final moments, which contain a gentle, compassionate reparation for Malvolio.


That's some good culture.