Purcarete is a world-renowned theatre and opera director who has helped the National Theatre to achieve national and international critical acclaim with their performances at more than 80 tours and festivals worldwide. This was a night of firsts for me: the first time I had seen a production of Twelfth Night, the first time I had experienced subtitled theatre and the first time I had experienced Shakespeare performed in Romanian! | "I found that I couldn't identify an obvious hero or favourite in the story" | |
Coincidently, I attended the play with a friend who speaks fluent Romanian, but along with the rest of the audience I had to follow the English subtitles located at either side of the stage. It was hard to concentrate on the stage whilst reading the screen, and the subtitles had a few seconds delay, but luckily much of the comedy in Twelfth Night is visual so it was only the occasional joke that was lost in translation. Rows and rows of plastic gnomes The staging was very striking – Shakespeare's Illyria was transformed into a grand candlelit library complete with rows and rows of plastic gnomes lining the tops of the shelves. I was impressed at how well the setting brought Shakespeare's words to life. The stage area was the biggest I have ever come across and the intricate arrangement of furniture gave it an extremely professional feel – it appeared more like a film studio than theatre stage. A lively and vibrant production, there was plenty of movement around the stage and some excellent comical effects, especially Olivia's (Cerasela Iosifescu) raunchy antics involving some well-timed acrobatics and clever use of mirrors. Shakespeare was the father of twins and several of his plays reflect a certain preoccupation with the theme of identity. Twelfth Night's central characters are twins Viola and Sebastian, who are repeatedly mistaken for each other when Viola disguises herself as a man. Love, deception, disguise and madness Twelfth Night is famed for its comedy but it explores quite profoundly the subjects of love, deception, disguise and madness. In my opinion this version seemed to focus rather too heavily on the madness. This was a polished performance and I had no qualms with the quality of acting but for me it never really got going. I found that I couldn't identify an obvious hero or favourite in the story and I think this led to disengagement and a lack of empathy for any of the characters. It was funny in parts but on the whole I found the jokes a little forced and parts of the play very slow. Unfortunately I wasn't alone in these sentiments; the audience for the second act was decidedly depleted as many people left during the interval. Despite all this I do feel privileged to have seen this production. There was certainly something different about this distinctive take on one of Shakespeare's saddest comedies. Whilst I won't be booking my seat for a repeat performance I'm sure others will delight in its individuality. | 
