New Paltz's Presentation of Twelfth Night

I attended SUNY New Paltz’s production of Twelfth Night this fall under two mindsets; that of a student of Shakespeare’s literature as well as of an average theater-goer. In context of the latter, this Twelfth Night was a slow show to watch and delivered a more bland performance of the comedy than it should have.

Not to say that Twelfth Night did not have its captivating moments. The most enjoyable scenes seemed to be any featuring Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Feste, preferably all three. Granted they were playing the comic relief of the play, but they were also the most animated and pleasurable to watch. Playing the role of fool to a tee, they were loud and exaggerated their speech and gestures.

As a student of Shakespeare, I appreciated the clear division of performance between the lower class and comical characters (Maria, Feste, etc.) compared to the noble protagonists of the play (Olivia, Viola/Cesario). When reading the play, I detected some indulgence in Duke Orsino’s pining for Olivia that gave the text a humorous flair, but I found this absent in New Paltz’s rendition. In the New Paltz production, Duke Orsino was rather flatly portrayed as all-sorrowful, lacking the dimension of secret pleasure in chasing Olivia that I picked up from reading the play. Also, an inconsistency in how all the characters seemed to have a formal English accent except Olivia disturbed my suspension of disbelief.

All things considered, I would recommend that any observer of a Shakespeare play, on Broadway or off, give reading the play a try in order to have the richest experience absorbing the performance.