The Australian Shakespeare Company (ASC) brings their evening production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night to Kew Gardens as part of their summer line-up of ‘Theatre on Kew’. Directed impressively by Glenn Elston, the show promises to bring ‘a night of laughter, love and lyrical mayhem for audiences of all ages.’And that it did.
The show opens with a sprightly, humorous version of the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ that sees all the characters slowly coming onto the stage to embrace one of the Twelve elements of the play. Using a Christmas classic for a summer show was a bold move, but it's a very obvious contrast to the setting, which had me laughing and intrigued from the off.
Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known romantic comedies about a mistaken identity, love triangle, and a cruel (but funny) prank. It follows a shipwrecked girl named Viola (Louise Hoare), who believes her twin brother, Sebastian (Scott Middleton), is dead. She dresses as a boy named Cesario and gets a job working for Duke Orsino (Hugh Sexton). However, while Viola falls for the Duke, he is infatuated instead with Countess Olivia (Nicole Nabout), and sends Viola to woo Olivia. Thinking she is a man, Olivia falls in love with ‘Cesario’ instead. These scenes are crafted brilliantly, with each actor brilliantly stepping into character, using elaborate declarations and facial expressions to display emotions of love and in the comedy elements too.
The trick on poor Malvolio (Maverick Newman) is another strong comedic part of this production. This follows Maria (Monica Nash - Olivia’s head servant), Toby (Jackson McGovern - the drunk uncle), Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Tony Rive), and Fabian (Larissa Teale), who drop a fake love letter written in Olivia's handwriting. This makes Malvolio think Olivia is secretly in love with him and making him dress in ridiculous yellow stockings and smile constantly, leading the characters to think he's lost his mind and faking a priest exorcism on him. The audience were in fits of laughter at Malvolio’s ‘bumble bee’ appearance on stage, prancing around, and shimmying up to Olivia - a stark contrast to his serious disposition at the beginning of the play.
Toby's character was a favourite of mine, and, from the laughter ringing out, of most of the audience too. In one of his scenes he was staggering on stage, with a bottle in hand, making amusing comments, and interacting with the audience. He went to the first row, asked for someone's name, and then referred to them (and three others) as ‘Winston’. He poured ‘alcohol’ into heels and Crocs and drank from them. Props were used smartly here too to enable the characters' personalities to be prevalent, and the staging allowed for the actors to go and come - from the audience aisle, the left and right stage, and from the back too, which worked well with the ever-changing scenes from Toby and his ‘crew’, Olivia and Cesario, or the Duke with Cesario.
There was also a scene where Andrew and Fabian brought some audience members onto the stage to learn a dance, while Feste (Alex Cooper) and Andrew got us to learn a song. Where sometimes these elements can feel cheesy in comedies, here it felt well-fitted to the already hilarious moments that we'd seen building up to this. Sue Ellen Shook, who choreographed the production, had worked hard to keep the audience engaged and laughing, especially younger members of the audience with families.
The outside setting allowed for staging to be really well thought out too. There was a backdrop of the ocean, and scenery in the background, and areas the characters could sit on too or hide behind, which were cleverly used for the comedic scenes with Toby, Maria, and Fabian.
Paul Norton composed the original music in the production, which was used in different ways throughout - sometimes as background instrumental during characters' monologues, and used in other parts when the whole cast would sing along.
Overall, Twelfth Night at Kew really does live up to its promise to be a fun, hilarious show. I thoroughly enjoyed the slightly modernised adaptation of the plot, the comedy sketches, and the unique use of music, props and staging. However, if Shakespeare isn't your cup of tea, you can check out Jack and the Beanstalk or The Wind in the Willows, which are also playing during the summer at Kew.
Twelfth Night is playing at Kew Gardens until 30th August 2026.
Review: Cara-Louise Scott-Lapish