Theater review: Girls' night out

Ten Thousand Things upsets the natural order with a fun, innovative approach to "Twelfth Night."

Star Tribune

Last update: October 16, 2008 - 4:52 PM

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TWELFTH NIGHT

What: By William Shakespeare. Directed by Michelle Hensley for Ten Thousand Things.

When: 8 p.m. today-Sun. Ends Nov. 2.

Where: Open Book, 1011 Washington Av. S., Mpls.

Tickets: $20. 612-203-9502.

Web: www.tenthousand things.org.

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Last fall Ten Thousand Things staged "Richard III" with an all-male cast -- the gender for which Shakespeare originally wrote all his plays. Artistic director Michelle Hensley decided that turnabout is fair play this season. The women who missed out on employment opportunities last time now populate Hensley's all-female production of "Twelfth Night." The gamble is slightly bigger, given this plot's contrivance of gender confusion, but Hensley turns that challenge into an opportunity. "Twelfth Night" is, after all, about throwing the natural order into disorder.

This is a broad, unsubtle staging that matches Shakespeare's intent. Peter Vitale's music, as always, is absolutely essential, accenting character movement sometimes just like you'd see in a cartoon, and providing big washes of sound to establish place and mood.

It requires time and concentration to sort through the identifications, as Ten Thousand Things double-casts several roles. Kate Eifrig plays both twins in Shakespeare's story -- Viola and Sebastian. They are shipwrecked, and Viola assumes Sebastian is lost at sea when she comes ashore in Illyria. Viola then disguises herself as a man when she goes to work for Orsino, a count played by Sally Wingert. Orsino employs Viola (under the assumed name Cesario) to ferry love messages to the countess Olivia (Sonja Parks). In the process, Viola falls for Orsino, and Olivia falls for Cesario (Viola). Wingert moonlights as Maria, the maid in Olivia's court.

Wingert and Eifrig are fine in relaying the sense of hidden desire, and Parks feels fragile, sensitive and wounded. However, the real acting muscle in this production is exercised in the subplot, where the pompous steward Malvolio is deceived and delivered into prison.

Isabell Monk O'Connor rambles through her portrayal of Sir Toby Belch with garrulous abandon, and Barbara Kingsley's Malvolio is a pinched, uptight prude. Would Kingsley have had the chance to play Malvolio in a standard production? Perhaps not, and that would be a loss. It's not genius to cast Kingsley in the role because she's a woman. It's genius to cast her because she is Kingsley, and she brings to Malvolio an understanding of vain delusion with her precise, adept rendering. Ditto for Monk O'Connor, who throws her big personality and physical presence into Sir Toby -- an immensely likable rascal. As the enigmatic Feste, Maggie Chestowich brings a spritely bit of whimsy -- almost a hint of Peter Pan lightness -- to the proceedings.

Hensley's staging swirls from scene to scene, her actors pulling strips of light fabric which, for whatever reason, put us in a dream state of mind. The illusion is that we rise up and drift high above the action to the next location.

The play chases its tail to that moment when Viola and Sebastian realize they are both alive, and in the presence of Orsino and Olivia -- who find themselves attracted to the same person. Here is where Hensley's gambit really pays off, as Eifrig speaks to her unseen half and the work comments on the presence of one being split into two bodies -- questioning the thinness of gender as a determinant in love.

It's a beautiful moment and yet another reason why Ten Thousand Things' work with Shakespeare always deserves a studied look.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299