STAGE WEST: "Twelfth Night" at Old Globe Theatre

Greg Germann (left) and Esco Jouley in "Twelfth Night."                                                    Photo by Jim Cox

           I haven’t seen “Twelfth Night, or What You Will” 12 times yet, but they’re adding up. The new production at the Old Globe Theatre directed by Kathleen Marshall makes at least three “Twelfth Nights” for me in the last seven years.
            This isn’t a problem by the way. I always enjoy “Twelfth Night,” which I like to think of as The Bard’s sitcom comedy. It’s silly. It’s rife with broad sight gags. Its strictly-comic subplot characters (Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Feste the fool and the head servant Malvolio) are by far the play’s most diverting figures. They’re spit-laugh funny, too. (So be careful with your sippy cup wines.) Even if you’ve seen “Twelfth Night” as many times as I have.
            The Globe’s latest staging of “Twelfth Night” (the last was in 2015) in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre couldn’t have asked for better actors to fill and have supreme fun with these roles: Cornell Womack’s Sir Toby is loud, boozy and delightfully anarchic; Jason O’Connell takes the jig and leg-kick to hilarious heights as the foppish Sir Andrew; Esco Jouley is the sort of jaunty house clown you’d love to have do all your mischief work for you, and they can sing too; Greg Germann’s Malvolio is stammering, twitching, self-loving … I could keep going. Germann wrings every inch of pomposity out of the character whose appearance in yellow stockings and cross garters may be every “Twelfth Night’s” ultimate comic moment.
            What transpires with the main characters in the play, the romantic and mistaken-identity machinations involving the nobleman Orsino (Biko-Eisen Martin), noblewoman Olivia (Medina Senghore) and brother-and-sister Viola (Naian Gonzalez Norvind) and Sebastian (Jose Balistrieri), is strictly predictable and practically dull compared to the antics of Sir Toby and company. That said, the cast members portraying them are talented in their own right, with Senghore, who does a sensational swoon across a bench in Act One, the most memorable.
            This “Twelfth Night” I found less enchanting than the 2015 staging here directed by Rebecca Taichman. Riccardo Hernandez’s gorgeous scenic design with its pools of water and giant red roses was unforgettable as were the costumes by David Israel Reynoso.
            But the 2023 “Twelfth Night” can hold its own. The Moroccan style backdrop by Lawrence E. Moten III is more of a grand, majestic court, and the set can be rotated for changing scenes and locations in the story. Michael Krass’ costumes, too, and Stephen Strawbridge’s lighting design are thoughtfully conceived.
            Fine. I’ve seen “Twelfth Night” again and I’ve enjoyed it again. I need a break. Bring on “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” which begins at the Festival Theatre on July 30. I think I’ve only seen that twice before.
            “Twelfth Night” runs through July 9 at the Old Globe’s Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.