Malvolio’s Fantasy
★★★☆☆ Tentative
theSpace @ Surgeons Hall (Venue 53): Mon 12 – Sat 24 Aug 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
Zuzabella Productions’ Malvolio’s Fantasy at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall is an adaptation of Shakespeare that is at its best when it is furthest from its source.
It starts less than promisingly. A refashioning of Twelfth Night written and directed by Zuza Sołtykowska and Isabella Olsen-Barone, it focuses at first on the steward Malvolio. The production clearly wants to concentrate on the gender-swap elements of the original, and dial up the fun.
Zac Askham with Rebecca Morgan and Isabella Velarde. Pic Claire Wang
While you can see what everyone is trying to do, it doesn’t quite get there. There is rhymed dialogue that is almost apologetically performed, or physical and verbal comedy whose timing is not quite right. Songs appear to finish as soon as they begin; a shame, since Claire Wang and Magda Olech’s music impresses. There is a whole load of stuff about moustaches that doesn’t quite come off (unlike the stick-on moustaches themselves).
transgressive
The character of Malvolio also seems unlike the self-serving, ‘sick of self-love’ original, and more of a straightforward social climber. He even has his yellow stockings on right from the start.
There is also the more serious question of why this has been done at all – there are regular productions of Twelfth Night that are far more uninhibited, and far more transgressive, than this.
Zuza Sołtykowska and Isabella Olsen-Barone. Pic Claire Wang.
But just when it seems sure to be filed under ‘honourable failure’, it picks up. The level of camp suddenly increasing helps, notably when Aodhán Mallon’s Orsino takes centre stage, and Malvolio (Zac Askham) suddenly perks up. Rebecca Morgan’s Olivia, who adds a certain gravitas to proceedings, knows that Viola (Isabella Velarde) isn’t really a man, but prefers her that way anyway. And so on.
silliness
Once the production trusts in its own silliness, it is much improved. It is significant that much of the most straightforwardly enjoyable moments (notably a pleasingly ridiculous dance sequence) come from a completely new character, Olsen-Barone’s Carmen, who also gets some of the most impressive of Ash McIntosh’s excellent wigs and Menna Morris’s fabulous costumes.
Sołtykowska, Alba McGowan, Lucien Ngai and Tatiana Kacmarska all have energy and commitment in the other roles, but it is not always clear why there are so many of them. Anyone not familiar with Twelfth Night might wonder who some of them are; if you are familiar, you might still wonder what some of them are doing.
Tatiana Kacmarska pic Claire Wang
As is so often the case, it might have been better for someone other than the writers to direct; the end result would probably have had the oomph it needed, rather than ending up as the somewhat tepid affair this is for much of its running time.
In the end, however, it does end up being fun, and its heart is definitely in the right place.
Running time: One hour (no interval)
theSpace @ Surgeons Hall (Stephenson and Fleming Theatres), Nicolson St, EH8 9DW(Venue 53)
Monday 12 – Saturday 24 August 2024
12 – 17: Stephenson Theatre at 10.05 pm
19 – Sat 24: Fleming Theatre at 10.35 pm
Details and tickets at: Book here
Instagram: @malvoliosfantasy
TikTok: @malvolios.fantasy
X: @mal_fantasy
Linktree: @malvolio
Alba McGowan, Isabella Velarde and Aodhán Mallon. Pic Claire Wang
ENDS
