Opening in Sydney tonight, Bell Shakespeare’s new production of Twelfth Night

Bell Shakespeare’s touring production of Twelfth Night opens in Sydney tonight, presented at the Sydney Opera House until 19 November.

Directed by Heather Fairbairn, who has worked internationally with companies including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and the Royal Court Theatre in London, this production of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s most musical play, features original music from Aria Award winner Sarah Blasko. Six new songs are sung live onstage by the cast, and the plot is carried along by Blasko’s melancholic score.

Fairbairn places the characters in a garden setting that transforms throughout the play, linking the characters’ own mortality to life cycles in nature and asking them, along with the audience, to find light in the darkness.

Composer Sarah Blasko:

My approach to everything, including theatre, is just to go with a vibe! But my initial inspiration for the music came from conversations with Heather who wanted to convey a sense of melancholy with the music but for it not to be depressing, which to me made a lot of sense. I felt the blues was the obvious place to start as most popular music has its roots there and the blues has that sadness but is ultimately uplifting.

I loved working with Bell Shakespeare and creating music for Shakespeare. I think the music opens something up in the audience and provides somewhere they can contemplate the main themes of the play. So, to me, the music is about highlighting those things and getting the mood right.

Director Heather Fairbairn:

I’m fascinated by the enigmatic nature of Twelfth Night, or What You Will, a play that asks more questions than it answers. Designer Charles Davis and I embraced this ambiguity, purposefully positioning the action in no fixed place at no fixed time. Sarah Blasko’s melancholic yet genre-defying music sits perfectly within this a-historical nowhere.

I’m delighted to be working with such a stellar ensemble of actors, who each bring something unique to their role. The production subverts standard casting approaches in regards to gender, with the role of Viola played by Alfie Gledhill; the result offers a timely exploration of the fluidity of gender and sexuality, as well as a celebration of love in all its forms.

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the play’s publication in 1623 as part of Shakespeare’s First Folio, this new production of Twelfth Night is a fresh retelling of the romantic comedy, offering a dark collision of hidden identities and unrequited love.

Washed up in a strange new land, determined to survive, Viola disguises herself as a man named Cesario and finds work with Duke Orsino, only to fall head over heels in love with him. But Orsino is in love with Olivia, who – grieving for her brother – refuses all offers of romance. Until, that is, she meets Cesario for the first time. A whirlwind of passion ensues, leaving no one unaffected, not even Olivia’s prudish housekeeper Malvolia.

The cast for the production includes Jane Montgomery Griffiths (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titus Andronicus), Keith Agius, Isabel Burton, Alfie Gledhill, Amy Hack, Garth Holcombe, Mike Howlett, Tomáš Kantor, Chrissy Mae and Ursula Mills.

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Season Details

Venue: Sydney Opera House
Date: 24 Oct – 19 Nov 2023

For more information click Here

Photo Credit: Brett Boardman