SHAKESPEARE MADE EASY TO UNDERSTAND
 
Twelfth Night by
Shakespeare 4 Kidz
Wyvern Theatre, Swindon
 
Shakespeare 4 Kidz Theatre Company proved to be an innovative and talented company.

What a wonderful way to bring Shakespeare to the masses and this wasn't just for kids.

The original Twelfth Night was cleverly rewritten by Julian Chenery and Matt Gimblett into an easy listening and entertaining format. The added musical numbers were an inspiration and it was billed as a Topsy-turvy treat of a show, and that's what it was.

Good simple staging and props with some excellent costumes, sound effects and lighting helped to make the whole story believable. It was also nice to see the twins portrayed as near look-a-likes as possible.

The comedy was well directed and performed with some excellent characterisations from Mark Lyminster as Sir Toby Belch, and Jeremy Worsnip as Sir Andrew Aguecheek. What a hysterical sword fighting scene, very cleverly done.

Tristan Carter as Orsino proved that purposeful, over the top acting can be well received. I loved this portrayal of the part. Viola, Nicola Emsley, was a peach, with good acting and a superb singing voice. Sebastian, her twin brother, played by Matthew Harper made the most of the smaller of the two roles. Excellent. Olivia, a Countess, and Maria, her gentlewoman, played by Jo-Ann Nighy and Mia Taylor had all the right characterisations to shine in their scenes. Samuel Dutton playing Feste the jester, gave his all. Great stuff.

Alan Clarke as Malvolio performed the changing role of his character with ease. His excellent song Give Me an M nearly brought the house down.

The play was enjoyed by all, mostly school age children and young adults, hoping to get a few pointers towards their examinations.
I took along my thirteen year old daughter, her verdict "That was great, mum." It was mine too.

Ros Hollands