{"id":11121,"date":"2011-03-20T05:44:08","date_gmt":"2011-03-20T12:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=11121"},"modified":"2011-03-20T05:44:08","modified_gmt":"2011-03-20T12:44:08","slug":"twelfth-night-at-the-khan-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=11121","title":{"rendered":"Twelfth Night at the Khan Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yehoyachin Friedlander as Feste in Twelfth Night\/Photo: Yael Ilan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shakespeare\u2019s play is pure pleasure, as if the title \u2013 what you will \u2013 is a promise made to the audience, to serve the most delicious dish an audience might wish for , appealing to all the senses and fed on the most succulent fantasies, opening with the famous line: \u201cIf music be the food of love, play on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, at the Khan, director Udi Ben Moshe has chosen to emphasize the darker undertones of this play, like the flavor shift from milk to dark chocolate, 70% cocoa. Ben Moshe begins with music, but, \u201cWhat is love? \u2019Tis not hereafter\u201d sings Feste, (lifting the song from Act II, scene III), opening the comedy with an intimation of death. Shakespeare does not tell us very much about Feste, stating only that he is a clown \u2013 leaving a lot up to the director. Ben Moshe and actor Yehoyachin Friedlander give us an older Feste: in black clothes adorned with a single red flower, his long gray locks witness to his advanced years, there is an aching poignancy to his song: \u201cThen come kiss me sweet and twenty;\/Youth\u2019s a stuff will not endure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, he does not sing those words precisely, as the play is in Hebrew translation \u2013 but the late Ehud Manor\u2019s translation sings throughout, it\u2019s simply beautiful. Miki Bencnaan\u2019s set design of pillars and mirrors reflects the play\u2019s doubling motif, and touch on the theme of how we see ourselves, projecting what we think we see, or would like to see, the way we imagine ourselves.<\/p>\n

The relationship of image to reality is a central theme in this play of cross-dressing and disguise. Viola, washed ashore in Illyria, her twin brother\u2019s fate unknown, decides to conceal her identity (an unaccompanied woman in Shakespearean times was not a desired situation). Disguised as a man, Cesario, she serves, and falls in love with, the love sick Orsino. Orsino can\u2019t get through to his beloved Olivia, deep in mourning after her brother\u2019s death, and sends Cesario in his stead, with hilarious results. The doubling in this play can make you dizzy \u2013 which is fine, because after all, it is a comedy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Sir Toby, Malvolio, Maria and Sir Andrew\/Photo: Yael Ilan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The comic roles are wonderful and the actors revel in them. The drunken Sir Toby (Erez Shafrir) is sweetly funny, Maria (Irit Pashtan) is smart and practical with a bawdy sensuality to her stage presence, and Sir Andrew (Liron Baraness) is delightfully, hopelessly stupid and does a great moonwalk in tights. Malvolio, severe and snooty in a ruffled collar, is wonderfully ridiculous in his acrobatic exertions to smile \u2013 as Maria aptly says: \u201cIf this were play\u2019d upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wild party and lots of fun, but it is Feste, the clown who would rather be a \u201cwitty fool\u201d than a \u201cfoolish wit\u201d who we take into our hearts. Shakespeare gives him the best lines, and the last words in this play, Ben Moshe puts him first, and Friedlander fulfills the promise of this role. Embracing life, he joins in every opportunity for silliness, whether a drunken night choir or tormenting Malvolio, yet is not deluded by appearances, seeing clearly\u00a0the skull amidst the flowers, fruit and frivolity of this vanitas.<\/p>\n

Future performances: April 17, 20, 21 & 26, 2011 at the Khan Theatre, 2 David Remez Square, Jerusalem. Tickets and information: call 02-6710281 or consult the Khan Theatre site.<\/p>\n

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, translated by Ehud Manor
\nDirector: Udi Ben-Moshe
\nSet Design: Miki Bencnaan
\nCostume Design: Polina Adamov
\nMusic: Josef Bardanashvili
\nLighting Design: Roni Cohen<\/p>\n

Yehoyachin Friedlander: Feste \u2013 A Clown
\nNili Rogel: Viola
\nAriel Wolf: Orsino, Duke of Illyria
\nItay Zvolon: Curio, A Gentleman attending on the Duke; Antonio
\nIrit Pashtan: Maria \u2013 Olivia\u2019s woman
\nErez Shafrir: Sir Toby Belch \u2013 Uncle of Olivia
\nLiron Baraness: Sir Andrew Aguecheek
\nShimrit Lustig: Olivia \u2013 a rich Countess
\nNir Ron: Malvolio \u2013 Steward to Olivia
\nVitali Friedland: Sebastian \u2013 Brother to Viola
\nItamar Gross: Keyboards
\nArie Tcherner: Voice of Police Officer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shakespeare\u2019s play is pure pleasure, as if the title \u2013 what you will \u2013 is a promise made to the audience, to serve the most delicious dish an audience might wish for , appealing to all the senses and fed on the most succulent fantasies, opening with the famous line: \u201cIf music be the food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}