Word: malvolios
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...play itself, a magnificent joke, was an admirable first choice for the freshman because its dialogue is fast and free. The two sub-plots, involving preposterous schemes to make fools of Malvolio, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Viola, are very quick and it is here that the players show a comic enthusiasm which should have been sustained throughout the production. Director S. Heilpern Randall, with his good sense of the Shakespearean line, exploits the complete ludicrousness of the situation by treating it colloquially. In the rapid cross-fire of jokes in the garden and duel scenes...
That pretty much happened last week to the Malvolio of Arnold Moss which, after a promising start, grew broader at every appearance. The production in general was forthright, with Frances Reid attractively girlish, even where she should have been boyish, as Viola. If the evening wasn't a great deal of fun, it was perhaps because a forthright Twelfth Night is often little better than a fourth-rate one. The situation calls for magic...
Twelfth Night (by William Shakespeare; produced by Roger Stevens) has its immortal virtues-speeches filled with fragrance, bewitching songs. In Viola it has a charming heroine; in Malvolio, "sick of self-love," a monumental pompous ass. To him, as a huffing spoilsport, is addressed one of Shakespeare's crispest queries: "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" To him, by a frisking clown, is tossed some of Shakespeare's tersest wisdom: "There is no darkness but ignorance." And nowhere more than in Twelfth Night can a lovely moment suddenly leap...
...really twins, its love-making that is really leg-pulling, the play swarms with rather impractical jokes. Then there are Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, those relentless cutups whom a later age would have relegated to the funny papers. They also have a way of dragging Malvolio-a great comic figure by virtue of being almost tragic-down to their own level...
...even with the noise and nonsense of Kilty's syphon squirting and the hilarious performance of Thayer David as Sir Andrew Aguecheck, the production has more substance than the usual farce. Donald Stevens is a thoughtful and detached clown. While Robert Fletcher's griping, prissy interpretation of Malvolio excludes all customary pity for his plight, it does not justify the brutal treatment he receives from the fetching chambermaid, Jan Farrand, and her licentious colleagues, Sir Tobey and Sir Andrew...