Caroline Toal & Farhang Ghajar in Twelfth Night | Photo by Dahlia Katz
Director Gregory Prest’s aesthetically classical adaptation of Twelfth Night, this year’s Dream in High Park from Canadian Stage, is truly funny and very tender. Having whittled it down to a buoyant 90 minutes, Prest has also repurposed some text from other Shakespeare works to make Feste (Steven Sutcliffe) into a narrator, waxing poetic about the aching, intoxicating, irksome phenomenon of love. Sutcliffe’s whole deal here is expansive, blathering and ultimately wise… in that sly way only a proper Shakespearian fool can be.
Perhaps our most intense emotional investment here is in Viola, one half of a shipwrecked twin-sibling duo. Caroline Toal, paradoxically so light on her feet yet fully grounding us in the emotional reality of a young woman who believes she’s lost her brother and pining for a duke who thinks she’s a dude. Intensely endearing, she radiates a persuasive and bashfully earnest consistency of purpose.
One of my favourite moments between Toal and Farhang Ghajar (as duke Orsino, the object of her affection) occurs fairly early on, as Viola is settling into her disguised role as his man-servant Cesario, delivering those plaintive Petrarchan odes to Olivia (Ghazal Azarbad), the noblewoman he’s obsessed with, on his behalf. During a bit of rowdy roughhousing, Orsino attempts to wrestle him, but later, lost in an amorous mood, seems all but ready to really go for it with Cesario-Viola before they are interrupted.
This moment, stretched out for maximum erotic tension, isn’t played for cheap laughs, but rather for its sincerity of mutual attraction. There are plenty of queer impulses rattling about Shakespeare’s oeuvre and it’s a joy to see these textual indicators embodied so fervently, without a familiar nudge-and-wink to render it all toothless.
This sensibility is echoed in Olivia’s attraction to Cesario-Viola, where the reserved and pragmatic noblewoman becomes quite reduced to giddy, girlish advances on the boyish messenger. Shakespeare wants us to know, and so does Prest, that both Orsino and Olivia are responding to Viola’s essential nature and that the force of her personhood can shine through the superficial trappings of gender. Azarbad, by the way, has formidable comedic chops, though she never over plays her hand, letting the humour slip out as situations naturally unfold.
The earnestly queer sensibility extends to a dynamic I find quite touching—between Viola’s twin brother Sebastian (Ori Black) and the captain who saved him from drowning, Antonio (Ray Jacildo). On the surface, the mutual love they express for each other is platonic, but again: Shakespeare knows we contain multitudes and that, with just the right glance or utterance, they could easily fall into bed. Jacildo’s eager affection is especially exhilarating. When the plot’s mistaken identities between Viola-Cesario and Sebastian begin to wreak havoc, and it seems Sebastian has cruelly disowned his companion and loyal saviour, Jacildo’s hurt and anger seems very much that of a jilted lover.
Black, though compelling, seems underused here. I’m not familiar enough with the text to know if Prest has omitted significant material or if Shakespeare himself so obviously favoured Viola’s plight. Their final reunion is nonetheless suitably touching.
While all this fraught and confused wooing is going on, there’s some great clowning happening between Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby Belch (played with deliciously uncouth gusto by Mike Shara), his bumbling friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Justin Otto hamming it up with a certain absurd dignity) and Olivia’s lady-in-waiting, Maria (a respectably playful Navtej Sandhu). Belch and Aguecheek’s drunken buffoonery seems almost noble here and the trio’s antics have a charming, infectious camaraderie.
The target of their scorn and nasty pranking is Malvolio (Rick Roberts), Olivia’s priggish steward. The character is a dandy, of course, though performers can interpret him as more or less sympathetic. I could vibe with Roberts portrayal and felt he was more passionately eccentric than merely boastful. He and Prest find a good balance between the hilarity of seeing him make a fool of himself and feeling genuinely sorry for him when he realizes he’s the butt of the joke.
Alicia Barban and Deivan Steele, in supporting roles, dutifully complete this solid ensemble.
Sim Suzer’s period costumes and elegant set are quaint and convincing. The whimsically Italian flavour of Olivia Wheeler’s score adds to the alluring ambiance. Prest and company aren’t trying to subvert this Shakespearean standard, instead striving to make it as compelling as possible on its own terms. All but swooning, I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in Illyria.
Twelfth Night
July 12 to September 6, 2026
High Park Amphitheatre
(1873 Bloor Street West)
90 minutes
Justin Otto, Navtej Sandhu & Mike Shara in Twelfth Night | Photo by Dahlia Katz