Quantum romps through magical 'Twelfth Night' playground
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Robin Walsh is a seductive Olivia and Gregory Lehane is the tormented Malvolio in Quantum Theatre's "Twelfth Night."
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The famous subtitle of "Twelfth Night" is "what you will," as if to say, "Here's another gender-bending love comedy; take it how you choose."
But it's Shakespeare, so whatever you do choose, a silly comedy is also a speculation on the wayward ways of the heart in which experience recognizes rueful truth. And because it dates from Shakespeare's maturity, the comedy comes with a twist that darkens happily-ever-after into something more complex.
Where: Quantum Theatre at West Penn Hospital Foundation Research Facility, 720 Gross St. (from Liberty Avenue, turn down Gross Street to end), Bloomfield.
When: Through Aug. 21, 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays.
Tickets: $35-$45 (students $18), some discounts; www.quantumtheatre.com or 1-800-718-4253.
In addition, this is Quantum, so the presentation also introduces ambiguity. We arrive at a woodsy valley dead-end, under a bridge somewhere in Bloomfield, where we surprisingly find a modernist industrial courtyard. The bland buildings and high retaining wall form a rough semicircle, completed by a high rise of seats, with towering trees standing sentinel.
The acoustics of the semicircle are splendid, which you can't always say for found spaces. But the scruffy valley and cicada-laden trees encircling the bland office building (Olivia's estate) and tall garage (the Duke's court) create an improbable arena that might as well be a dream. It's a place of the imagination, Shakespeare's, Quantum's and gradually our own.
The company and director Karla Boos use it as a playground. People watch from high windows or pop up unexpectedly, bending one scene briskly into the next. Bang! A huge canvas unfurls from high wall to pavement, and out steps the shipwrecked Viola (Robin Abramson), dripping wet, to ask dubiously, "What country, friend, is this?"
"Illyria," she is told. "Elysium," she suggests, having just escaped the drowning she thinks claimed her twin brother. Perhaps channeling him, she dresses as a young man. Her dream-like adventure is launched.
In Illyria she comes to serve Duke Orsino (Mark Staley), an amatory enthusiast in pursuit of Olivia (Robin Walsh), currently in mourning for both father and brother. As we enter, we see that lady posed on a rooftop in black, more seductive than chaste, while two strolling musicians sing "queen, high in the sky." Giddy with mourning and capable of explosive sorrow, Olivia is emotionally raw, ready to fall in love, as she does, for the disguised Viola. Then her giddiness turns rambunctious, her pent-up emotion billowing forth.
First Published August 3, 2011 12:00 am
