Twelfth Night
By William Shakespeare
Filter in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company
The Lowry, 2 November 2010
But not only Filter’s, of course. Shakespeare had a hand in it too.
This was a version of Shakespeare’s comedy that included a mobile phone, the shipping forecast and an awful lot of air guitar, courtesy of Malvolio (played by the excellent Alex Avery). All used to good effect, an’ all.
The set was attractively dishevelled and was probably meant to pass for a music studio. It was no surprise at all to learn that Filter were behind the version of Three Sisters that toured recently under the Lyric rubric. This set had the same kind of feel.
Poppy Miller as the twins Viola and Sebastian caught the eye. She was lovely in her bones and when she moved, she moved more ways than one. She moved in circles and those circles moved, etc. But in truth all of the actors were at the top of their game.
Filter’s Twelfth Night demanded, rather than requested, audience participation. In this production, the play is a room with an open door and comely, zaftig maidens bidding that you enter. Rather than (say) a desiccated statue that you circle in a reverential manner. There’s a striking immediacy to the staging and myriad pantomime elements: much clowning and fooling around with jesters’ bobble hats and fools’ red noses. A lot of bawdy and singing.
What we have here is a radical and wholly successful reworking of a classic comedy. Terrific, triple-A stuff.
Twelfth Night is appearing at The Lowry until 6 November and then touring throughout the UK. Some details are here.
Jildy Sauce 
I thought it was awful. The director had written his own play which was only loosely based on Shakespeare’s and about 90% of the lines had been skipped.
If you want to see a production of Twelfth Night, avoid this joke!