Christopher Gray on the musically zany version of Twelfth Night coming to Oxford

A famously zany production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night from ground-breaking theatre company Filter visits Oxford Playhouse next week at the start of a new national tour.

Urging audiences to forget any preconceptions they might have about the play, one of the company’s triumvirate of artistic directors, Ferdy Roberts, says people should just be ready to enjoy themselves.

“We think it’s a fantastic piece,” he says — a verdict many have agreed with in the seven years since it surprised the world on its first airing as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works festival.

“We ask audiences to come along with an open mind and not to be worried about ‘getting it’. Just come and have fun for 90 minutes and go away whistling the tunes.”

These are offered in a variety of styles — including jazz and rock — from a pair of on-stage musicians whose work is crucially linked to that of the six actors.

These multi-task in presenting the wide gallery of characters on view, with only two — those playing Sir Toby Belch and the mercilessly ragged steward Malvolio — confined to a single role.

The fusion of music and words has been central to the activities of Filter since it was set up by Ferdy with co-directors Ollie Dimsdale and Tim Phillips in their days at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

With Ferdy and Ollie both studying to be actors and Tim specialising in classical guitar, their aim was to exploit the wide spread of talent available in this remarkable institution.

In the years since graduating, all have developed high-profile solo careers alongside their work with Filter. This includes a number of shows devised by the company, as well as adaptations of other writers’ plays.

Twelfth Night’s origin, Ferdy explains, began in a three-week workshop at the National Theatre in 2005, after which director Sean Holmes steered them towards the work.

“We started messing around with it and all got very excited. Of course, a play that starts with the words ‘If music be the food of love’ has got to be ideal for us.”

Work was revived, under Holmes, when Filter was asked to contribute ‘a response’ to Twelfth Night for the RSC’s Complete Works season. “Rather than respond,” says Ferdy, “we thought we would do the play itself.”

Critics were knocked out by their irreverent, feel-good take on the piece. The Daily Telegraph’s Charles Spencer wrote: “Rock-and-roll Shakespeare’s a blast.” The Sunday Times’s critic went further. “The most hardhearted purists would melt at Filter’s 90-minute reworking of this play,” wrote John Peter. “For newcomers to Shakespeare I can’t think of a better introduction. “The music is ferocious, fiery and funny: at times, it makes the Stones look like a group of genteel clergymen. This is not a send-up: it’s a celebration — mad, wild, loving and hilarious.”

The actors perform in their own clothes, with the boozy Sir Toby the only character in Elizabethan attire. “In early performances he was required to consume food and drink hidden around the stage and auditorium,” says Ferdy, “But this proved to be a bit too punishing . . .”
 

Twelfth Night
Oxford Playhouse
January 21-25
Tickets: 01865 305305 www.oxfordplayhouse.com