Summary 
Outdoor production anchors a summer Festival and succeeds as light romantic entertainment, with a memorable Puritan villain both enhanced as a comic foil as well as diminished as a restrictive moral compass. Some interesting concepts, including Arabic visual motifs and a homosexual bond between Sebastian and Antonio, but for the most part an undemanding comedy and an exultation of free spirits.
Design
Directed by Judith Lyons. Costumes by Tona Schenk. Set by J. William Ruyle. Lights by H. Lang Reynolds. Sound by Roderick Peeples.
Cast
Gwyn Fawcett (Viola), Christopher Peterson (Sebastian), Erik Uppling (Antonio), Andrew Heffernan (Orsino), Ericka Kreutz (Olivia), Frank Nall (Malvolio), Steve Young (Sir Toby Belch), Aaron Todd Douglas (Fabian), Brendan Hunt (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Charles Constant (Feste).
Analysis
Judith Lyons' direction of Twelfth Night embraces the joyous spirit of the play. Lyons eschews darker elements of the story, especially the brutal treatment of Malvolio and the melancholy of Feste. The former decision miscarries due to Frank Nall's splendid portrayal of the black-clad Malvolio: Nall's Malvolio overwhelms the lesser characters onstage, especially Sir Andrew and Fabian, two of the revelers whose antics are supposed to be enhanced.
Nall imbues his performance with winks and squints, mannered poses and knowing glances to the audience. His purposeful stride and persnickety countenance dominate the stage and steal nearly every scene in which he participates. Nall's gestures frequently bring laughter, whether he is snapping Maria's faux letter, turning completely round on the command to "revolve," or leaping back and forth from quiet snideness to haughty rage. Giving Nall free reign to develop his mannerisms and expand his malevolence as a Puritanical force would have made a deeper and more interesting production. However, such emphasis on the villain would have considerably darkened the joyousness of the overall performance (and Festival).
Lyons chooses instead to lessen Malvolio's impact on characters and events. Rather than a rising moralistic force, here he is a mere foil for the hijinks of the reveling characters, and then only in diluted fashion. Malvolio's incarceration scene is minimized, with just his face visible in prison from a small door on the stage wall. Any discomfort or torture is alluded to only in passing. To the audience's surprise, he even rejoins the celebration at the finale, after issuing his apparently empty threat of vengeance, and he sings and dances alongside his foils and supposed rivals. The sense, for those unfamiliar with the play, is that the Puritan temper has finally been tamed by freer spirits, although Shakespeare's writing, and history itself, prove otherwise.
Toby Belch provides an endearingly energetic stage presence: in his initial 1.3 appearance, Toby, in the throes of hangover, immerses his entire head into a wading pool and whips back out, swinging his hair in a huge splash and bathing other characters onstage. Then he takes a great drink of sack and spits it straight into the air in imitation of the pool's fountain.
The immensely appealing Viola seems always vulnerable, sometimes desperate, and completely helpless in her love for Orsino. She exhibits pluckiness and resourcefulness with the same entertaining energy as Sir Toby. Her swordfight with a whimpering and whining Sir Andrew culminates in her rising ire and more comic splashing in the pool. In contrast, the melancholy Feste is minimized, the depressed nature of his words and songs shortened in duration and lessened in impact, although he remains onstage as observer for long periods of time.
The scenic design features the aforementioned - and well-utilized - ornamental pool and fountain at stage left, and a dripping basin at stage right, all surrounded with an abundance of ivy, vines and trellises. The Adriatic setting is juxtaposed with predominantly Arabic visual motifs: the elaborate costumes rely upon turbans, sashes, vests and slippers; there are billowing tents and flowing curtains; and the Illyrians, especially Orsino, speak in thick but precise accents.
Lyons maintains a quick pace throughout the play, keeping the focus on the whimsy of the set and costumes and the high spirits of the reveling characters. An interesting facet of this production, and something of a digression from its for-the-most-part mainstream approach, is the homoerotic interplay between Sebastian and Antonio. The two share an intensity of feeling between them that they display with long looks, a tight embrace, a kiss of the cheek, and most notably, a playful stab by Antonio with his sword toward Sebastian's crotch. Their emotion for one another, although seemingly out of place, nicely mirrors Viola's frustration at her inability to express her love for Orsino. Neither love can be revealed, due to the appearance in one case, and the reality in the other, of one member of the couple being of the same gender. Further, the bond between Sebastian and Antonio exposes the conversely shallow emotion exhibited by the lovesick but narcissistic residents of Illyria, namely Orsino and Olivia, the "marble-breasted tyrant."
This production, while streamlined and void of the usual complexities of the play, is nonetheless an entertaining and spirited comedy.
Note: A version of this article was edited and published in Shakespeare Bulletin, Vol.14, No.4, Fall 1996.