SOURCE: "Operatic Twelfth Night," in Financial Times, March 2-3, 1991, p. XX.

Sir Peter Hall's production of Twelfth Night at the Play-house Theatre is remarkably pretty to look at. The dominant colours in the set are red and green: a tree with bright red apples, the windfalls lying on the grass. Nature spills over into the costumes. Sir Toby Belch appropriately has more than a touch of red about him. There is also the black and yellow of Malvolio.

Other characters are more flaxen. This is late summer or very early autumn. The Playhouse has a very tall stage which lends itself well to this display of colour schemes. There is a shade of opera rather than drama to the production.

Otherwise, this Twelfth Night is uneven. Since Sir Toby is played by Dinsdale Landen and Sir Andrew Aguecheek by Martin Jarvis, those performances at least are very professional...