TWELFTH NIGHT RSC at ROUNDHOUSE

Audiences who have neither read nor seen Shakespeare’s best comedy may have difficulty knowing what is going on in David Farr’s production. The major problem is the expressionistic set, a seedy hotel, which would be much more suitable for a Tennessee Williams melodrama. It means that Malvolio has to read the forged letter in the foyer whilst the pranksters hide behind the reception desk. The one thing nobody is likely to forget about Jonathan Slinger’s creepy performance (with his slicked-down wig and a voice which sounds like Kenneth Williams) is his appearance before Olivia, wearing tight-fitting, cross-gartered, yellow stockings and a large jock-strap. His buttocks are bare. It gets a big cheap laugh, of course, but is so totally out of character as to be just vulgar. The casting elsewhere is poor. Kirsty Bushell’s Olivia would never fall in love wit this Cesario. Orsino doesn’t cut a romantic figure. Sir Andrew Aguecheek is no gent. Sebastian is so much taller than Viola that they could never be mistaken for identical twins, thus making nonsense of the scenes where they are mistaken for each other.