Direct from a sold-out run in London's West End, the critically-beloved, Shakespeare's Globe productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III come to Broadway for a 16-week limited engagement. Two of The Bard's finest plays are performed in repertory by a remarkable cast featuring two-time Tony Award winner Mark Rylance (Jerusalem, Boeing-Boeing), Golden Globe nominee Stephen Fry (Wilde, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) and Tony Award nominee Samuel Barnett (The History Boys).
These classics are presented in the custom of how Shakespeare's plays were originally staged, with an extraordinary all-male company playing male and female roles; actors participating in the pre-show ritual of dressing and preparing their make-up on stage, in front of the audience; music played live on traditional instruments; and lighting created almost exclusively by 100 on-stage candles, adding to the intimate and authentic atmosphere. This is delightfully funny, timeless Shakespeare at its absolute finest, and it is not to be missed!
Outrageous high comedy ensues as the pangs of unrequited love affect the unforgettable characters of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. While the lovelorn Duke Orsino plots to win the heart of the mourning Olivia (Mark Rylance), an alliance of servants and hangers-on scheme against the high handedness of Olivia's steward, the pompous Malvolio (Stephen Fry). When Orsino engages the cross-dressed Viola, who has disguised herself as a young man under the name Cesario, to plead with Olivia on his behalf, a bittersweet and hilarious chain of events follows.
The first-rate cast of both shows is all male, with guys made up in white-face to play the female roles. There are no visible microphones on the stage, which features a long wooden wall with two sets of doors for entrances and two-storey stalls on either side for a few dozen audience members — who sometimes get drawn into the action (to hold a flask for the tipsy Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, for instance). The lighting remains constant, with electric lights supplemented by a large upstage candelabra and six candle-laden chandeliers hanging overhead (lit by attendants just before the play begins). And the costumes, designed by Jenny Tiramani, are wonders — made entirely of materials (linens, silks, wools, leathers) available in 1600. No Velcro, no zippers. Those who arrive early are treated to a kind of Elizabethan pre-show, with actors being made up and dressed on stage.
The performances are all pitched perfectly between light comedy and pensive melancholy, which is precisely where Twelfth Night lives. Rylance tempers his typical eccentricities for Olivia, who is vain and impetuous, but adorable and demure. Paul Chahidi’s scheming servant, Maria, maintains a kind of quiet dignity, gliding along the stage as if on a skateboard. And there’s something touchingly plaintive in Peter Hamilton Dyer’s deadpan clown, Feste, who speaks truth to power, but seems just as bemused by more common foibles and frailties of those around him. This fool knows he’s one wrong joke away from prison. All in all, it’s a marvelous cast, and no one tries to “act” Elizabethan; they just serve the words and the words serve them.
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Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
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2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Jenny Tiramani |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Tim Carroll |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | Twelfth Night |
2014 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Twelfth Night, or What You Will |
2014 | New York Drama Critics Circle Awards | Special Citation | 0 |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Mark Rylance |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical) | Jenny Tiramani |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Tim Carroll |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Paul Chahidi |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Twelfth Night |
2014 | Theatre World Awards | Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance | Paul Chahidi |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Jenny Tiramani |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Tim Carroll |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Mark Rylance |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Stephen Fry |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Paul Chahidi |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Samuel Barnett |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Shakespeare's Globe |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Shakespeare Road |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Tanya Link Productions |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Max Cooper |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Shakespeare's Globe Centre USA |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Stephanie P. McClelland |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Rupert Gavin |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Paula Marie Black |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Jane Bergere |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Tulchin Bartner Productions |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | 1001 Nights Productions |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Just for Laughs Theatricals |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Glass Half Full Productions |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Roger Berlind |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Scott Landis |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Sonia Friedman Productions |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Twelfth Night |
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