Review: TWELFTH NIGHT at the Barbican

Stuart King 18 December, 2025, 19:42

For a play which is invariably presented with greater emphasis on its comic elements than the tragic aftermath of its opening shipwreck, TWELFTH NIGHT can appear one of Shakespeare's more ambiguous works and difficult to pigeonhole. Directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah, the RSC's production which transferred from Stratford-on-Avon and has just taken up residence at the Barbican, leans towards a melancholy telling, but still manages to be frivolous and rumbustious when necessary.

Twelfth Night at the Barbican Theatre.

Twins Viola (Gwyneth Keyworth) and Sebastian (Rhys Rusbatch) are shipwrecked in a storm and become separated amidst the turmoil. Each believes the other to be dead. Having washed ashore at Illyria, Viola assumes the disguise of a young man Cesario, intending to find patronage working as a page with local nobleman Duke Orsino (Daniel Monks). As luck would have it, the man is love struck with Countess Olivia (Freema Agyeman) and requires an eloquent go between to advocate for him as she seems hell-bent on rebuffing his advances. Cesario with his innate capacity to understand how women think, would seem just the chap for the job, but things don't quite go to plan. Sebastian who was saved from certain drowning by a sea captain Antonio (Norman Bowman) has become the seaman's romantic fixation and as the two travel to Illyria, mix-ups and mistaken identities follow in their wake.

For large chunks of the play, the rag-tag of assorted relatives and hangers-on living under Olivia's palatial roof, notably Sir Toby Belch (Joplin Sibtain seeming left to run riot) and Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Demetri Goritsas seemingly adrift) conspire during inebriated escapades, to cause havoc, intrigues, fights, and all manner of other distractions for the household's servants. Chief among these, is the scrupulous and inscrutable Malvolio (a masterfully controlled performance from Samuel West) who as head of the household finds the drunken foolishness barely tolerable. When he upsets the group with his fastidious reprimands, they conspire to use the secret love he holds for his mistress, to entrap and humiliate him.

Often acting as a continuity device between scenes and households, is the court jester Feste (Michael Grady-Hall) who has fallen out of Olivia's favour but manages to ingratiate himself into scenes and situations requiring wry observations, patter and word play. He has all manner of bizarre entrances and costumes in this production (courtesy of James Cotterill who is also responsible for the set) and indulges in frequent breaking of the fourth wall including a protracted game of catch with members of the audience. His melancholy renderings of lyrically beautiful songs written for the production by Matt Maltese, were a genuine high point and served to reinforce the play's tragic-comic ambiguities.

TWELFTH NIGHT runs 2 hours and 55 mins (including the 20 min interval) and continues at Barbican until 17th January 2026.

Twelfth Night Tickets