Theatre review: Twelfth Night, Botanic Gardens, Glasgow

It was all going so well at the Bard In The Botanics' new production of Twelfth Night '“ the leafy outdoor setting, the fierce but strangely Shakespearean cross-casting, and the early Sixties look, complete with enviable play-list of hits from stars like Sandie Shaw and Cilla Black, plus nifty choreography by cast member Stephanie McGregor.

Twelfth Night left the audience in suspense when the weather  an abiding danger at the Bard In The Botanics  struck again. Picture: Contributed

Twelfth Night | Rating: **** | Botanic Gardens, Glasgow

Then they sang It Might As Well Rain Until September; and right on cue, the ominous pitter-patter of sustained Glasgow rain swept through the trees at interval time, and brought the performance to an abrupt end.

Missing out on the second half of a show is a natural hazard of Bard In The Botanics, well worth it for compensating gorgeous sunlit evenings; but this time around, I was agog to see exactly what Jennifer Dick would do with the almost dizzying pattern of gender-bending she sets up in the first half.

It’s not that the gender of the characters is questioned – Emilie Patry’s Duke remains a lord and master, Viola and Olivia the ladies, despite Viola’s boyish disguise.

Yet with all the characters in the main love-plot played by actors of the opposite sex, the possibilities seem romantic, ridiculous and riotous, all at once.

What was clear, before the rains came, was that the show boasts a fine Sir Toby Belch in Kirk Bage, and a superbly poised Lady Olivia in Ryan Ferrie; and although it’s less obvious exactly what the Sixties setting has to do with it, the energy and wit is immense – perhaps enough to hold the rain at bay on at least a few occasions, before the final performance next weekend.