SOURCE: A review of Twelfth Night in Financial Times, May 27, 1994.

Part of what makes young Emma Fielding, the RSC's new Viola in Twelfth Night, so captivating is that she is made up of contrasts. She is elfin, tiny, vulnerable, with vast eyes; and yet she is forthright, living intensely in the moment, with an inquiring little nose that is a vital part of her profile, and an eager stance whereby her weight rests keenly on her toes. This mix of opposites is why she was so heartcatching as Thomasina when Stoppard's Arcadia was new; and no less so in Jonathan Kent's School for Wives at the Almeida.

She is heartcatching again in Twelfth Night. Her voice is deep, strong, firm (though she does not always enter words cleanly enough), until in an instant some new thought renders it high, clear, light. This sudden illumination from within is what...