By Jennifer Mustoe
The Echo has given us several excellent Shakespeare offerings and its current offering, Twelfth Night, has much to recommend it. Directed by Eve Speer, the show has many laughs and my companions and I had a good time watching the frivolity onstage.
As you walk into the Echo’s lovely space, you will really be blown away by the gorgeous set designed by Antonio Garcia. It may be one of the loveliest sets I’ve ever seen. Really. It has a big wave and fabric on the walls like sails. Twelfth Night begins with a shipwreck. The set is covered with nautical-looking boxes and such, and with a nod at alcoholic Sir Toby, bottles all over the place.
The show begins with music and the array of musical instruments that the actors play is quite impressive: an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, played by Archelaus Crisanto (Duke Orsino), who is also the musical director, a French horn, a cello and vocals by all actors. There are several songs and I liked the way the actors slowly entered and joined the songs. However, there were too many songs and they each seemed too long. The energy and sound were great, but since the show is 2.5 hours long, the music slowed the show down.
The show itself, as many Shakespeare plays are, is about confusion. Two characters, a brother and a sister, each think the other is dead. Viola (Sarah Butler) portrays her brother Sebastian (Carter Peterson), whom she thinks has died in a shipwreck. Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino, but he thinks she’s a boy and he is already in love with Olivia (Sophie Determan) who can’t stand Orsino. However, she is quite taken with Viola masquerading as a man.
The funniest parts of the show were when Sir Toby Belch, played winningly by Matthew Carter Speer, is onstage. He is brilliant, willing to make lots of physical choices that are hilarious. His scenes with Parker Forest Olson (Sir Andrew Aguecheek) are a delight. Lots of movement, the scenes zip by and I laughed the whole time they were onstage.
One of my favorite choices by director Speer is she divided the role of Feste the fool between two talented actresses: Celene Anderson and Robbin Ivie. These two young women are similar in looks and build and combined with almost identical costumes (costumes by Mandee Wilcox) and amazing timing, this was one of my favorite parts of the show. The actresses sang in harmony, but it was their lines, all on top of each other and sometimes in unison that I found the most enjoyable. An excellent directorial choice and bravo to the two actresses.
Archalaus Crisanto’s Duke Orsino was impressive in that Crisanto’s voice filled the space the best, though I had no trouble hearing anyone in the cast. Crisanto is a talented actor and his singing was also a delight. The other standout is Leah Hodson who plays the unfortunate and much maligned Malvolio. Hodson is brilliant in this role. Because this version of the play is not gender specific, Hodson playing what is written as a male character makes the role even funnier.
This show is played for laughs and you will laugh a lot! I saw many moments of brilliance in this show and I don’t remember laughing this hard in a show in a very long time. It is, as I said, two and a half hours long, so be prepared for that. Though there is nothing that is overtly inappropriate for children, I would say that older teenagers and up, especially those who like Shakespeare, will enjoy this show.
Twelfth Night
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The Echo Theatre, 15 N 110 East, Provo, 801-375-2181
January 15 – February 13, M, Th, F, S 7:30 PM, Matinee Jan 24, 2:30 PM
$8.00-$12.00
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