at
Shakespeare's Globe
22.09.12 and 09.10.12
Can
it be ten years since Mark Rylance held the Globe in thrall to his
wonderful Olivia ?
No-one better understands how to play the space and work the unique crowd, and now he's back again, in the stunning black dress and Virgin Queen white face, in Tim Carroll's production with that 2002 dream team – including Claire van Kampen for the music and Jenny Tiramani for the authentic costumes.
The
addition here, and the other reason for the swift sell-out of this
brief end-of-season fling [before a lucrative transfer to the Apollo,
together with Rylance's equally compelling Richard III] is the
Malvolio of Mr Stephen Fry, making a return to the boards after 17
years away. A rich, grave steward, this. Upbraiding Sir Toby and his
cakes and ale companions more in sorrow than in anger, deliciously
slow on the uptake as he deciphers his Lady's letter, and cringingly
forward in his wooing of the bemused object of his affections.
Many
fondly remembered, lovingly polished performances are revived from
that original cast – Peter Hamilton Dyer's gentle, enigmatic Feste,
Paul Chahidi's pertly mischievous Maria, Liam Brennan's beautifully
besotted, mellifluous Orsino. And of course Rylance's Olivia, still
gliding as if on castors, still wringing every last drop of humour
and emotional honesty from the Countess. The hesitations, the
embarrassment, the girlish gaucheness all wonderfully tuned to the
Wooden O's open-air intimacy.
This
time round Globe favourite Colin Hurley is a boorish, boozy Sir Toby,
with Roger Lloyd Pack a nicely pathetic Aguecheek, visibly melting
and crumbling under life's vicissitudes. And an unexpected joy –
the excellent James Garnon as the often neglected Fabian. The boys,
too, are new of course, with Sam Barnett and Johnny Flynn as his twin
"Cesario".
On
opening night the capacity crowd cheered it to the roofless rafters;
it's packed out every night of course. I noticed a formidable array
of movie cameras the other night [including two dollies and a remote
camera in the Lords' Room], so hopes run high of a DVD or maybe a
cinema relay.
It
runs at the Globe until October 14 [returns only], then at the Apollo
until February 2013.
