Jon Reynolds (Feste) (Photos Ray Gniewek)
These superb renderings of the comic characters make the more sober parts – Olivia, Orsino, Viola, Maria and Sebastian – richer and deeper, and the actors take full advantage of the emotional space created for them. In particular, the exchanges between Thickpenny as Viola and Evans as Olivia are always exciting and provocative, notwithstanding that the dialogue is basically the same: Olivia wants Cesario, and Cesario wants her to have Orsino.
I’ll go further than that: all fourteen actors, from Thickpenny’s Viola to the sailors and manservants, gives us something interesting, convincing, and in congruence with the rest of the production. When that happens, folks, all praise and honor has to go to the Director. Akiva B. Fox has informed this production with a profound understanding of Shakespeare and his devices, and his choices – sometimes bold and unconventional – invariably worked. He eschewed traditional Shakespearean costumes and put his characters in more contemporary garb, to good effect. Charmingly, he substituted a ukulele for Feste’s traditional lute. He placed his story on a stage bare except for a trunk, a cabinet, and some curtains. For master storyteller Shakespeare, as presented by master interpreter Fox, that was all that was needed.
And, not to be crass about it, the cost of admission for this production, which would do honor to any of the large stages of Washington, is only $15 – which is to say, the cost of a community theater show. For anyone who begins this six-month Washington Shakespeare Festival unfamiliar with The Bard in production and uncertain about whether he would like it, this is a perfect place to begin: with a highly accessible comedy, done beautifully, and for cheap.
(Running time: 2 hours). Twelfth Night continues at Arlington’s Theater on the Run, 3700 South Four Mile Run, Arlington, VA. until March 3. Tuesdays though Saturdays are at 8; Sundays are at 2 p.m. All tickets $15; Sunday matinees for those 65 and over are only $5. Tickets available online.
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