Saturday, September 8, 2007

another rave review for Twelfth Night

This from the September 7th edition of the Pacific Sun, which I would not reproduce here if I had a modest bone in my body. (Here's the pdf link--the review is on print page 33.)
...Bay Area theater veteran Worsley is superb as the deluded and delusional Malvolio...

Director Mary Beth Cavanaugh succeeds with some bold chances in this modern-dress production. On a wide empty stage—the only props are some gold-painted chairs and a few swords—she combines contemporary dance, pop music, slapstick comedy and Shakespearean dialogue to delightful effect. The show moves along briskly, with a great performance by Karrick as the perpetually intoxicated Sir Toby. The athletic Hernandez is his perfect counterpart as the volatile, hip-hop attired Sir Andrew. The ephemeral Kalli Jonnson does a marvelous interpretation of Feste, the wandering jester who manages to always be in the right place at the right time to propel the plot, tweaking the curiosity of the main characters with entertaining riddles and extracting fees for doing so.

In many ways the most astounding performer of all is Paul Festa, in the minor roles of Curio and the Priest. At key moments in the production, the multi-talented Festa (essayist, novelist, filmmaker, actor, musician) strolls about onstage with his violin, playing either unaccompanied or with recordings. It’s a brilliant, evocative bit of theater that helps lift this show to an unusually high artistic level.

North Bay Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a funny, entertaining and artistically adventurous production. It heralds a bright future for the company, Hamilton Amphitheater Park and the Marin County theater community.

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