Presented by Boaty Theatre Company as part of this year's Liverpool Theatre Festival at St. Luke's Bombed-Out Church in the heart of Liverpool, this was true community theatre. The cast included a whole mix of professional, amateur and community performers.
Reworking and reimagining Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', we were presented with Ilyria, an island run by a youthful looking Pirate Queen (Jane Hamlet?) and her bunch of unruly buccaneers, whilst a tale of love, unrequited love, and mistaken identity causes many an uncomfortable and comedic situation.
There were a few problems endemic in this particular production however, which made it rather difficult to follow. Firstly the costuming was simply all over the place! Costumes from almost every century since the beginning of time were represented, including modern dress, whilst their cross-gender and gender-blind casting made it extremely difficult to elicit any real comedy from a story which relies entirely on mistaken identity due to, wait for it, cross-dressing! Much of the humour was missed too due to poor comedy timing and cast arriving too late on stage after their cue.
The cast of community and amateur players though certainly gave their all to this production, relishing the challenges brought by a Shakespeare play. A live band, as well as some of the cast themselves, played various songs and background music during the show, all of which were pertinent and aided our understanding of the plot.
Mike Bell (?) gave a very lively, but rather OTT characterisation of Toby Belch, tending to over-act rather than simply 'be' funny; whilst [apologies but there is no cast list available] played the role of Malvolia with understated dourness in act 1, coming very much into her comedic own in act 2 with the showstopping yellow stockings cross gartered song and dance number! A special mention should also go to Laura Harris (?) who played Feste. A very talented young actress who understood not just her role but the wbole arc of the show, whilst playing guitar, singing, and generally being the roots and trunk of this particular theatrical tree.
Mike Bell (?) gave a very lively, but rather OTT characterisation of Toby Belch, tending to over-act rather than simply 'be' funny; whilst [apologies but there is no cast list available] played the role of Malvolia with understated dourness in act 1, coming very much into her comedic own in act 2 with the showstopping yellow stockings cross gartered song and dance number! A special mention should also go to Laura Harris (?) who played Feste. A very talented young actress who understood not just her role but the wbole arc of the show, whilst playing guitar, singing, and generally being the roots and trunk of this particular theatrical tree.
A very praiseworthy effort, with many very good ideas, mostly well executed, but overall the show simply lacked punch! Enjoyable.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 11.9.21
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