I have been called obsessive about Shakespeare…

But to me, it seems entirely reasonable to see two plays by the RSC, in two days, in two different parts of the country over two hundred miles apart. If the opportunity presents itself, take it.

It started with us booking to see the RSC Julius Caesar in Newcastle, part of their annual residency in the city. I wanted to see this production, as it was directed by Lucy Bailey, who also directed the rather fabulous (and fabulously gory) production of Titus Andronicus which we saw at the Globe a couple of years ago. In that she’d struck me as quite an exciting director.

Then work decided at the last minute to send me to a conference in Bromsgrove. The last time this happened, in Spring, well, there was only one outcome. When I’m only 20 miles away, how can I resist? It all depended whether there were any tickets left for Twelfth Night. A quick check on line found two single tickets remaining. One of them clearly had my name on it.

So last Thursday evening I found myself in the Courtyard Theatre settling down to watch Gregory Doran’s production of Twelfth Night. You may know that Doran isn’t one of my favourite directors. It was David Tennant’s performance as Hamlet that I loved, along with the ensemble, but I had issues about some of the directorial decisions.

This time, he’d also cast a couple of very well known TV actors, Richard Wilson and James Fleet, as Malvolio and Andrew Aguecheek, alongside some seasoned RSC performers*. Such casting puts ‘bums on seats’, but it doesn’t always work as brilliantly as it did with DT. I felt that this time it was less successful, and that both actors gave rather under-powered performances, and therefore much of the comedy was lost, particularly with Aguecheek.

By casting Malvolio as quite an elderly man, it did make him a sadder character than usual, his deluded belief that Olivia loves him drawing sympathy rather than humour at his pomposity being punctured. At the end, this wasn’t a man who would seek his revenge, and perhaps wisely, his last line was delivered after he had left the stage. I think I might have been tempted to cut it, as it seemed to work against the character.

The best performances for me were from Nancy Carroll as a charming, and witty Viola, Alexandra Gilbreath as an ageing Oliva, Jo Stone-Fewings as Orsino, and Richard McCabe as a gross and manipulative Toby Belch. All experienced RSC actors, and it showed.

The eastern Mediterranean setting was very reminiscent of Bill Alexander’s 1987 production, in both set and costumes, so that I frequently felt that I’d seen it all before.

Overall, it was enjoyable, without being in any way challenging. It was ‘comfortable’ Shakespeare, but I’m not sure that that’s what he should be. It took no risks, which I find to be one of the hallmarks of Doran as a director. I need the moments, either in production, or performance, which make me hold my breath, and this didn’t have them.

*Though I guess you could call Fleet the same, as I first saw him there back in the mid 80’s