This Twelfth Night is charmingly lighthearted; if it is also sometimes lightheaded, the lapse is usually forgivable.
The production's greatest strengths and worst weaknesses are in the casting. Ralph Richardson's Toby Belch is too old, too thin, and too serious. While Joan Plowright is effective as Viola and Cesario, her Sebastian is just short of awful. Gary Raymond's Orsino looks and sounds like the amorous Duke, and Tommy Steele's Feste has a good singing voice plus the cheerful charm that belongs to a professional jester. The best player in a generally strong cast is Alec Guinness's gravel-voiced, slightly addled, superbly watchable Malvolio.
The production's greatest strengths and worst weaknesses are in the casting. Ralph Richardson's Toby Belch is too old, too thin, and too serious. While Joan Plowright is effective as Viola and Cesario, her Sebastian is just short of awful. Gary Raymond's Orsino looks and sounds like the amorous Duke, and Tommy Steele's Feste has a good singing voice plus the cheerful charm that belongs to a professional jester. The best player in a generally strong cast is Alec Guinness's gravel-voiced, slightly addled, superbly watchable Malvolio.