In his second round-up, EWAN CAMERON picks excellent solo shows that deal with Scottishness, Englishness and race as highlights
Latest editorial
Winter gloom
SIMON PARSONS questions whether a dark take on Shakespeare’s Seasonal comedy is in harmony with the original text
(L to R) Cat McKeever as Olivia's Attendant, Daniel Millar as Fabien, Michael Grady-Hall as Feste and Charlotte O’Leary as Olivia’s Woman
[Helen Murray] 
Fiery words from the Bard in Blackpool and Edinburgh, and Evidence Based Punk Rock from The Protest Family
MATTHEW HAWKINS is mesmerised by a performance that dissolves the line between audience and performer
MATTHEW SHARPE recommends the essays of a Renaissance politician that instruct and unnerve after 400 years
GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes the reissue of a seminal work of revolutionary theory that have genuine relevance in the current context
RON JACOBS rides shotgun with a member of Black Bloc on the wave of anti-capitalist protests of the 1990s and early 2000s
Twelfth Night
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon
A BLEAK, funereal setting constantly being touched up with black paint and later dominated by an oversized organ is James Cotterill’s unsettling design for a play that usually champions life and passion.
Director Prasanna Puwanarajah’s dark take on Shakespeare’s bittersweet comedy leans heavily on the bitter, especially where the original text is concerned, and much of the humour is an addition in the form of Feste’s extended clowning routines and modern asides.
It is no surprise that Freema Agyeman’s feisty and emotionally capricious Olivia has rejected Bally Gill’s self-absorbed Orsino and his protestations of love for the youthfully malleable charms of the cross-dressing Viola, Gwyneth Keyworth. In notable contrast to their showy, love-sick affectations is the selfless sincerity of the doomed passion expressed by ill-fated Antonio for the man he dragged from the sea, Sebastian.
More from this author
SIMON PARSONS is beguiled by a dream-like exploration of the memories of a childhood in Hong Kong
SIMON PARSONS is taken by a thought provoking and intelligent play performed with great sensitivity
SIMON PARSONS is gripped by a psychological thriller that questions the the power of the state over vulnerable individuals
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
