The TNM opens its season with a bang with this delightful Shakespearean comedy delivered in the form of a musical tale, which tackles (in text, but also in songs!) the themes of absolute love, cross-dressing and authenticity.
Posted yesterday at 3:59 p.m.
By dint of seeing great dramas play out on our stages, we end up forgetting these little gems that are comedies (especially when they hit the mark). Twelfth nightstaged with humor and inventiveness by Frédéric Bélanger, clearly falls into this category.
Shakespeare’s comedy, adapted by Rébecca Déraspe and Frédéric Bélanger, is led with a beating drumbeat by a Benoit McGinnis in great shape, who embodies the character of Feste, jester and sage of the Countess Olivia (Marie-Pier Labrecque), in mourning for her father and his brother. At the same time narrator, instigator, matchmaker, orchestrator, he witnesses all the intrigues.
This bet turns out to be quite profitable in the form chosen by the creators of Twelfth night. A kind of musical tale, where the text is interspersed with songs – several of which are performed by Benoit McGinnis himself.
Supported by a small band house in which we find the character of Duke Orsino (Jean-Philippe Perras), in love with the Countess Olivia, who rejects his advances.
The play opens with the shipwreck (in separate places) of the twins Viola and Sébastien in the land of Illyria. Viola (Clara Prévost, promising!) will disguise herself as a man, will bear the name of Césario and will become Duke Orsino’s page. His mission will be to intercede on her behalf, transmitting his message of love to the beautiful, insensitive Countess, who will instead fall in love with… Césario!
Shine on the periphery
In fact, they are the peripheral characters of Twelfth night who shine brightly, at times eclipsing the main characters.
PHOTO YVES RENAUD, PROVIDED BY THE TNM
Yves Jacques offers us some of the most comical moments of Twelfth night.
Think of Maria, Olivia’s follower (Kathleen Fortin, very fair, who still sings so divinely); to Sir Toby (masterful Étienne Pilon, accustomed to dramatic roles, who reveals to us here his great comic talent); to his sidekick Sir Andrew (picaresque François-Simon Poirier) or even to Olivia’s steward, Malvolio, played by Yves Jacques, who offers us some of the best comic moments of this play (especially when he tries to smile without achieve it).
Are there any abuses in the projections of the characters – in particular those of Feste himself whose slightest gestures we follow and who sometimes takes us a little too much by the hand…?
Maybe. But that in no way hinders Frédéric Bélanger’s inspired staging (The adventures of Lagardère, Around the world in 80 days, A Midsummer Night’s dream, The three Musketeers), which perfectly punctuates this romantic crossover in a setting that is almost built in your head.
All this against the backdrop of the themes of play and cross-dressing, a pretty mise en abyme that brings us back to our deep intentions. Do the characters play at loving or do they really love? asks Rébecca Déraspe in her presentation. When the character of Feste asks Malvolio which of the prisons scares him the most – in reference to his repressed impulses –, we grasp the full force of this fine adaptation of Shakespeare, which we are played back… while singing. To our greatest delight.
Twelfth night
From Shakespeare. Translation and adaptation: Rébecca Déraspe. Adaptation and direction: Frédéric Bélanger. With Benoit McGinnis, Clara Prévost, Marie-Pier Labrecque, Yves Jacques, etc.
New World TheaterUntil October 15.