If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it…

Music fills the High Park Amphitheatre, feeding the love story which is to come. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night shows us love in many of its forms, and Gregory Prest’s expertly directed production distills the work down to its very essence and makes that tenderness shine through in every moment. Though I regard Twelfth Night as my favourite of the Bard’s plays, this production made me feel like I was seeing it again for the first time. Full of passion, poetry, and playfulness, this year’s Dream in High Park is, in a word, perfection.

Sim Suzer’s set and costume design evoke the mystical and nautical feels of Illyria, with vines and flowers crawling all over the stage and several baskets and casks adorning the stairways and edges of the space. The colour palette of deep yellows, lush greens, and citrus peaches contrasted with some of the brighter reds or purples gives the whole production a warm glow which only brightens as the sun sets around you.

Prest has made some astute textual cuts to get the text down to a tight 100 minutes, and yet he’s also added in these beautifully crafted interludes about love which allow Steven Sutcliffe to truly shine in the role of Feste. Sutcliffe’s voice is powerful and he gives Shakespeare’s songs new life in this production. However he’s also a perfectly dry fool, and this lends well to Feste’s original text as well as the new pieces by Prest.

One of the smarter cuts I noticed was the scene where Malvolio (Rick Roberts) has been imprisoned, and is then visited by Feste (in various disguises). Though this doesn’t give us as much time to pity the poorly treated Malvolio, it does allow the central plotlines of the lovers take centre stage, without eliminating this part of the story all together. Especially since Malvolio has ended up in this situation because of his love for Olivia mixed with his own self-love. Roberts plays an intense Malvolio, one who earns our empathy but also proves why Sir Toby and Maria wish to show him none.

Let’s stick with the subplot characters but move into the play’s central theme of love: Mike Shara’s Sir Toby Belch and Navtej Sandhu’s Maria have some of the most spicy scenes we get to see in this production, yet most of those electric moments lead to physical comedy provided by Justin Otto’s Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Here we get to see the lusty relationship between Maria and Sir Toby, fuelled by their mutual love of trouble-making, as well as the friendship between Sir Toby and Sir Andrew: at times frustrating, but always sticking by one another. Not to mention Sir Andrew’s vain attempts at wooing Olivia like Malvolio or even the Duke Orsino. This trio had me belly laughing throughout the play, and Otto’s exclamation of “pourquoi?!?” to Cesario nearly had me falling out of my seat.

Ghazal Azarbad’s Olivia and Farhang Gajar’s Orsino are great foils for one another, though they share very little time on stage together. Azarbad deftly portrays the changes in her character as Olivia goes from a grieving young woman to an enthralled lover. Whereas Gajar’s Orsino is faithful and steadfast in his passions for Olivia, with only some minor attention being directed towards his young page Cesario. Gahjar gives a fiery performance, equally matched by Azarbad.

One of the relationships which is often overlooked, but gets the deserved attention in this production is the friendship (or maybe something more-ship?) between Antonio and Sebastian. Ray Jacildo’s Antonio is strong yet compassionate, making us instantly like him. Though Alicia Barban’s feisty Curio and Deivan Steele’s choleric Valentine attempt to arrest him for piracy, I think everyone is #TeamAntonio in this case.

But of course, Twelfth Night truly revolves around the love of Sebastian and Viola, the twins separated by a wicked storm. I loved the sea shanty style song which begins the show to tell us of their voyage and what happened; it gives us just that little bit of background to make us even more invested in their story. Caroline Toal and Ori Black give incredible performances as Viola and Sebastian. Toal’s vulnerability as Voila is heartwarming, and she’s has an enchanting presence on stage. Black gives a sweetness to Sebastian which makes him such a fun element in the story. Watching them slowly piece together that the other might still be alive, leading up to that final scene where they reunite and the emotions just overflow. The love these siblings have for one another which drives their desire to find their lost partner is what’s truly at the heart of Twelfth Night, and this production highlights it beautifully.

I truly believe that Twelfth Night has something for everyone: love triangles, mistaken identities, sword fights, a bit of political intrigue, mischief and mayhem, it’s all there! The Dream in High Park production reminded me of why I love this show so much – it’s fun, light hearted, full of song and laughter. There’s something magical about seeing Shakespeare under the stars, and it’s become something I eagerly await every summer.

Twelfth Night runs until September 6 in the High Park Amphitheatre. For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.canadianstage.com/shows-events/season/twelfth-night

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Cover Photo: Caroline Toal and Farhang Gajar. Photos by Dahlia Katz. Set & Costume Design by Sim Suzer. Lighting Design by Logan Raju Cracknell.

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