[MaxCady]

Watched this last night. Loved every minute of it. Greg Doran has directed a very good play. The whole thing seemed to move at a very fast pace. It clocks in at bang on three hours. People are going to ask how was Richard Wilson. He was very good, but in my opinion it was James Fleet that stole the show. The set was simple but very good. Was surprised to see a few empty seats. I thought it would have sold out.

[kjb]

I saw this on Friday night too which was the second preview. Friends had seen it the Thursday night and there were a few changes, so it will be interesting to see it again on the final performance to see what they go with.

Having seen some 'tweets' from the RSC twitter stream from rehearsals mentioning the 'smells' of the play, I had been a bit confused as to how a play can smell....well all becomes clear and for me it brought an interesting other dimension to the play.

I thought Richard Wilson was very good (although there were moments when he was Victor Meldrew for me....although this may have been unavoidable)

I agree James Fleet was good although I thought that Guy Henry as Aguecheek in the Donmar version was better - he had me in stitches.

Richard McCabe, Nancy Carroll and Sam Alexander were all excellent though.

[Lynette]

Richard McCabe is back - o joy of joys. I didn't realise this so thanks for telling us. I'm going to this just before it transfers to London.

[Lynette]

I enjoyed this very much this evening. It wasn't the Malvolio Show that it was with Derek Jacobi for the Donmar production at the Wyndhams. If anything it was the Olivia Show as Alexandra Gilbreath was excellent and very funny. Of course I can quibble about one or two little interpretations but I loved the Turkish/English mix and the music [ and the smell] and as always Doran gets it all moving along and makes an ensemble of the actors.

I don't know why it received a luke warm reaction - like how much contemporary Hytner ish relevance and deep, dark stuff do you want in a Twelfth Night? There was plenty of darkness in Feste - I've not seen the ' Greek' insult so effective before - he is a loner, and doesn't belong to any of the subgroups in the play and has to fight for survival. The treatment of Malvolio is horrid as usual and Richard McCabe conveyed the emptiness of the joke very well.

McCabe super - carrying on from his magnificent Puck all those years ago in both conveying the reality on stage and connecting with the audience. He does Shakespeare good! There is one moment when he and James Fleet as Sir Andrew and Miltos Yerolemou, Feste, bgin a jazz riff that is worth the price of the ticket ..

I usually judge a Twelfth Night by how much I am moved by the ending and this one, yes, brought a tear to my eye: a credit to the writer since I've seen plenty of TNs but also a credit to this production. Go see, take Grandma, and the kids and you'll have a lovely time.

[Latecomer]

I saw this yesterday at the matinee and have to agree with Lynette...it was great fun and a nice zippy production. I thought the best performance of the night went to ALEXANDRA GILBREATH - Olivia who was so funny and commanded the stage whenever she was on it. Particularly good at yelling and her exasperation with those around her was a joy to behold!
Good production with a nice overall atmosphere and sets were very beautiful..I particularly liked the market scene where Malvolio briefly spots both Viola and Sebastian and is a little confused! The twins were very well cast...they really did look alike and in this I thought the production went one better than the Donmar West End production (where Viola could not really be mistaken for a man!). However I felt that the Donmar production made a better fist of the longing and attraction that built up between Viola and Orsino...in that production you could really believe that Orsino was rather relieved to discover that Viola was indeed a woman(!), whereas here his attraction to her at the end seems to come out of nowhere!
I liked the tree but found the wobbling a bit distracting...it looked like it might fall apart at any moment.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the performance of RICHARD MCCABE - Sir Toby Belch and although I had a few issues making out what James Fleet actually said (particularly when he was facing away from the audience) he provided excellent comic relief. The musical interlude when they were drunk was excellent entertainment!
Richard Wilson was fine but I have to say I preferred Derek Jacobi...I thought his reading of the letter was better. And his "smile" was priceless!
All in all an entertaining production, just right for Christmas!

[Geoffrey L]

Alexandra Gilbreath was magnificent. Amongst the best Olivia's I have ever seen. Richard Wilson played Victor Meldrew. I am not sure whether this is helpful to a play all about erotic transference. I felt he was not the Shakespeare Malvolio.

I am an admirer of Richard McCabe. His Toby Belch struck no chord with me. The cast did a competent job but in a great panoply of RSC Twelfth Nights to me this was nothing more than competent. Greg Doran is one of my favourite all time Shakespearian directors. It fell well below his admittedly exemplary standards. An ok night out

[Laughingmonsta]

Ive never been to Stratford - but at the moment can't afford a weekly bus pass to get around manchester...maybe one day soon! - I love Twelfth Night as well :-(

[Lynette]

Ive never been to Stratford - but at the moment can't afford a weekly bus pass to get around manchester...maybe one day soon! - I love Twelfth Night as well :-(

Well this one is in London from beginning of December but probably well booked up. You coming down?

[Laughingmonsta]

not planning on coming down till the new year!

[Marius Pontmercy]

not planning on coming down till the new year!

It's booking until the end of February, if that helps:

http://www.ambassadortickets.com/1467/669/...-Twelfth-Night-