Mark Rylance in 12th Night

[ragazzolupo]

Did anyone else happen to see Mark Rylance as Olivia in Shakespeare’s 12th Night at the Apollo in London? I was lucky enough to cadge a great single ticket last month. The period costumes, all male cast (as it would have been in Shakespeare’s time), and musicians with period instruments fully integrated into the performance all did it for me. Some have opined that Rylance is the greatest actor in the English-speaking world.

 

The Londonist Review:

Stephen Fry may steal the headlines, but Mark Rylance steals the show. This all-male production of Twelfth Night premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe this summer but has now transferred to the warmth of the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, where it is playing in repertory with Richard III.

Rylance plays Olivia, a beautiful young lady who spurns Count Orsino’s court only to fall in love with Viola, a ship-wrecked maiden disguised as a boy. His performance requires a double suspension of disbelief – not only is he a man, but he is also middle-aged. Yet this only adds to the comedy. His ageing Olivia delivers her first lines with such frigid stateliness, in full mourning dress, that it is all the funnier when she throws herself headlong at the startled Viola. Sure, it’s hard to imagine why Orsino would be in love with this Olivia, but in the emotionally mercurial world of Twelfth Night that hardly matters. Instead we get a performance exquisitely calculated for laughs – and who’d say no to that?

 

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