Twelfth Night (Piya Behrupiya): Shakespeare’s Classic Comedy of Love and Deception Like You’ve Never Seen It Before – OzAsia Review

[INDIA ~ AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE] Ukiyo Tent, Elder Park, Sat 24 Sep. Wildly entertaining and irresistible in its exuberance, The Company Theatre Mumbai’s production of Shakespeare’s comedy about love and deception wowed the OzAsia Festival audience at the Ukiyo Tent. Translated into Hindi with English surtitles and presented in the Nautanki theatre tradition with original songs and dancing, this production is a comedic crowd-pleaser, with larger-than-life performances and all music produced live onstage by a three-piece ensemble and singing from the entire cast. In Shakespeare’s play, Viola and Sebastian are separated in a shipwreck, believing one another drowned. Viola concocts a male alter-ego, Cesario, and is recruited by Duke Orsino to help him win the heart of the reclusive Lady Olivia, who instead falls in love with Viola as Cesario. Meanwhile, Olivia’s handmaiden Maria plots with Olivia’s drunken uncle Toby to humiliate Olivia’s steward, the proud and intolerant Malvolio. The lead performances were all very impressive, with Titas Dutta gracefully shouldering much of the story as Viola/Cesario. Anamika’s spectacular singing voice elevated her portrayal of Olivia, and Dhruv Lohumi’s Sebastian cheerfully smashed the fourth wall to take issue with the small size of his role as written, while playfully engaging the audience in some meta-narration. Meanwhile, Dhwani Vij’s gleeful portrayal of Maria was a highlight, especially when singing of her plot against Malvolio, and Girish Sharma played the drunken Sir Toby with such reckless abandon that the front row occasionally flinched as he flailed and stumbled in their midst. The playful spirit of Shakespeare’s original was on display, as local Adelaide locations were substituted for the London references that subtly compromise the setting of Illyria in the text. While the quiet bits were regularly challenged by the neo-soul sounds of Singapore’s The Steve McQueens on the Elder Park stage outdoors, the cast were able to keep the audience focused on the action in the tent, but it did call the choice of the outdoor venue into question, as did the surtitles at each side of the rounded stage which often forced the audience to choose between following the dialogue or the performances. In the end, the venue issues didn’t matter, as the performers had the audience boisterously clapping and cheering along, smiles all around as they took their bows. Matt Saunders Twelfth Night performs at Ukiyo Tent, Elder Park, from 5pm until Sat 24 Sep. Book at BASS on 131 246 and ozasiafestival.com.au. Click HERE to view teaser and purchase your tickets.