The Old Joint Stock theatre’s a hidden gem, one of my favourite venues for live theatre in the Midlands. It’s tucked away on the top floor of a grand 19th century bank in Brum that’s been renovated into a bustling city centre pub. This is a charmingly intimate environment for live theatre so it was perfect for this informal production of Twelfth Night. The very opposite of posh RSC offerings, this is theatre cheap, cheerful and bustling.
Twelfth Night is a strange play with a complicated plot of toffs pining for love and a shipwrecked heroine (Viola) disguised as a boy pining for her drowned brother. A teasing complication involves an aristocratic lady who falls for Viola as a boy, and a lord who does the same. Oo-er. But the posh folk are only window dressing. It’s the ordinary folk who form the delightful core of this play, no better than they should be, drinking, cursing, spiteful and stupid, us in other words. New Century wisely concentrate on this, generating a lot of laughter in the process.
There’s a fair amount of multi-tasking in this small company but special mention must go to Martin Tomms in the dual role of Duke Orsino and the drunken Sir Toby Belch, also Rebecca Hallworth as Viola and Sir Andrew Auguecheek. Alan Wales brought a frenetic primness to the demanding role of the much-wronged steward Malvolio touching the genuine pathos of the role which shows his tormentors to be the shameful squad they are. But there’s always a star and here it’s Jennifer Rigby who as well as directing played both the shrewish housekeeper Maria and Viola’s brother Sebastian with a wealth of comic invention.
This was a fun evening watching a nice take on one Shakespeare’s most entertaining and thought-provoking plays.
