Review: ‘Twelfth Night' at Oak Park Festival Theatre is more comedy than love story

Chicago Tribune

12 hours ago

Mistaken identities, unrequited love, ridiculous pranks: 'Twelfth Night' combines many quintessential ingredients of Shakespeare's comedies, making it a promising choice for Oak Park Festival Theatre to celebrate its 50th anniversary season. Artistic director Peter G. Andersen's staging nails some of the comedic moments, especially when the physical comedy ramps up late in the first act, but the passion is unfortunately lacking in the tangled romantic mix-ups at the play's core.
Performed on an open-air stage in Oak Park's Austin Gardens, this production evokes the play's Mediterranean setting with a hint of Southwestern Americana. Evan Frank's scenic design juxtaposes a sky-blue backdrop with vibrant orange and red, plus pops of pink from costume designer Taylor Pfenning to complement the musical references to Chappell Roan's 'Pink Pony Club' (sound design by Jake Sorgen). Some issues with the sound system on opening night were ironed out before too long, making it easier to focus on the high jinks happening onstage.
Setting up the most classic love triangle of Shakespeare's canon, Duke Orsino of Illyria (Evan Ozer) pines for the noblewoman Olivia (Madison Kiernan), while she is smitten with the duke's page, Cesario. But 'Cesario' is really Viola (Ama Kuwonu), a young woman who's been separated from her twin brother in a shipwreck and disguises herself for protection when she washes up in Illyria. Oh, and Viola immediately falls for Orsino.
Until Shakespeare neatly sorts things out toward the end, the pairs that share the most stage time represent one-sided affections, so perhaps it's unfair to expect chemistry on the level of last year's 'Romeo and Juliet.' Still, the lovers' sense of yearning and jealousy just isn't that palpable. Ozer's Orsino comes across as self-absorbed and misogynistic (a fair reading), while Kiernan's Olivia is mercurial and frankly a bit whiny, an interpretation that plays more for laughs than sympathy. In contrast, Viola is earnest and grounded, though Kuwonu's understated performance makes it hard to fully feel Viola's grief and worry over her missing brother.
Fortunately, the comedic characters liven things up, especially Josh Carpenter's performance as Malvolio, steward to Olivia and the brunt of a humiliating prank. With his affected British accent and stiff bearing, this Malvolio seems like a fussier, vainer cousin of Jeeves, the level-headed butler of P.G. Wodehouse's farcical novels. His bossy attitude soon puts him in the crosshairs of a mischievous quartet: Olivia's drunken uncle, Sir Toby Belch (Kevin Theis), and his feckless buddy, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (J Cody Hunt), along with two members of Olivia's household staff, Maria (Julia Rowley) and Fabian (Kason Chesky).
With Maria as the mastermind, these pranksters convince Malvolio that Olivia is in love with him, setting him up for the infamous yellow stockings scene, one of the cringiest attempts at wooing to ever grace the stage. Pfenning's costume design really adds to the comedy here. Malvolio confidently makes his entrance wearing a hot pink romper that looks plucked from a 1980s exercise video, with yellow spandex shorts revealing a generous length of flesh above his knee-high yellow socks. Carpenter hams it up with high kicks, athletic lunges and even a suggestive twerk to emphasize the most well-known line in Maria's forged love letter: 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them' (emphasis added).
In previous productions such as 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' Andersen introduced gender-swapped characters and/or homoerotic overtones that felt both modern and also very much in the spirit of Shakespeare's texts, which often play with gender and its associated power dynamics. Andersen continues this trend with 'Twelfth Night,' portraying a romance between Viola's brother, Sebastian (Noah Lash), and Antonio (Nathan Hile), the sea captain who saves him after the shipwreck. While this is a valid reading of Antonio's ardent speeches, it does leave a loose end in an otherwise tidy bow. Soon after arriving in Illyria, Sebastian marries Olivia, who initially mistakes him for Cesario/Viola but readily transfers her affections when she learns his true identity. With Sebastian's betrayal going unresolved, the heartbroken Antonio joins the vengeful Malvolio in adding a bitter note to the play's happy ending.
Ultimately, the Antonio/Sebastian subplot feels like more of a distraction than an addition to the play's already messy central relationships and complex gender dynamics. If this 'Twelfth Night' would take its cue from the sultry summer weather and ratchet up the heat between Orsino, Olivia and Viola, it could achieve quite the potent mix of comedy and romance.Review: 'Twelfth Night' (2.5 stars)
When: Through Aug. 16
Where: Oak Park Festival Theatre in Austin Gardens, 167 Forest Ave, Oak Park
Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Tickets: $40; children under 12 free; pay-what-you-will (walk-ups only) on Wednesdays and Thursdays; oakparkfestival.com