Principal Theatre Company

Time Out

Twelfth Night

Evoking a world hedged about with mourning and madness, Twelfth Night may be classified as a comedy but it could hardly be called summery in tone. Still, this summer is hardly summery in tone either, so the Principal Theatre Company may have picked the ideal play for the 2007 outdoor season. Certainly Feste’s final song, with its refrain of ‘With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain / For the rain it raineth every day’, has rarely felt so bitingly appropriate. If things go on like this, it could become the official summer anthem of the climate-change era.

Not that the melancholy jester delivers the song himself in Paul Gladwin’s jolly World War II-set production. Instead the singing is led by ‘Feste’s Fabulous Fillies’, a female vocal trio in the mould of the Andrews Sisters who also perform ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ and a few other iconic wartime numbers. Meanwhile Feste (capably played by Dean Julian) has become a George Formby-style musical hall entertainer: he even does a pretty good warm-up routine, complete with ukulele and mildly risqué one-liners, before the action gets under way…

Sarah Knight, David Hall and Tom Crook make a winning comic team as Maria and Sirs Toby and Andrew, and Russell Wootton’s initially Jeevesian Malvolio proves a show-stealing turn



PAUL GLADWIN Director Paul Gladwin is joint Artistic Director of the Principal Theatre Company. Paul has directed Principal’s open air productions of Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and last year’s 1940s production of Twelfth Night. Paul has also recently directed a primary school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and secondary school productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III all for the Young Shakespeare Company. Paul has also assistant directed on The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream again all for the Young Shakespeare Company. Paul has recently finished working on a short film called ‘Looking For Gants’. This film is currently being viewed by Film Festivals around the World. “Director Paul Gladwin leads from the front. An exuberant evening...”. A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2006. Time Out ...........		Time Out Twelfth Night Evoking a world hedged about with mourning and madness, Twelfth Night may be classified as a comedy but it could hardly be called summery in tone. Still, this summer is hardly summery in tone either, so the Principal Theatre Company may have picked the ideal play for the 2007 outdoor season. Certainly Feste’s final song, with its refrain of ‘With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain / For the rain it raineth every day’, has rarely felt so bitingly appropriate. If things go on like this, it could become the official summer anthem of the climate-change era. Not that the melancholy jester delivers the song himself in Paul Gladwin’s jolly World War II-set production. Instead the singing is led by ‘Feste’s Fabulous Fillies’, a female vocal trio in the mould of the Andrews Sisters who also perform ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ and a few other iconic wartime numbers. Meanwhile Feste (capably played by Dean Julian) has become a George Formby-style musical hall entertainer: he even does a pretty good warm-up routine, complete with ukulele and mildly risqué one-liners, before the action gets under way… Sarah Knight, David Hall and Tom Crook make a winning comic team as Maria and Sirs Toby and Andrew, and Russell Wootton’s initially Jeevesian Malvolio proves a show-stealing turn