Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Neil Caple, Pauline Daniels, Natalie Dew, Paul Duckworth, Luke Jerdy, Adam Keast, Matthew Kelly, Adam Levy, Jodie McNee, Robin Morrissey, David Rubin, Alan Stocks, Nicholas Woodeson.

If…The stage and greasepaint, the drama and the laughter, the sorrow and the exceptional mirth bring you joy then let the theatre forever live on.

In 2011 The Everyman Theatre on Hope Street shut its doors, bid a tearful goodbye and started the long road to renovation and evolution. Now in 2014 the doors are open again, the beacon that lights up the hill that Liverpool sits under the protective wing of has once more shouted, roared, bellowed for all to hear and with that unmistakable Merseyside pride that resonates through the back alleys, the side streets and through each every person who makes the home by the river that play is on.

The Lords of Misrule decree that only the naughtiness of Twelfth Night would ever be good enough a play to bring about the new era of the Everyman Theatre, the only fitting way in which to celebrate the rebirth a legendry venue, and in the comfortable setting that the new theatre has afforded all who will make their way up to Hope Street, the ghosts of plays past, of historic visions and of those to come an incredible welcome to the Everyman’s first play.

And what a play! No matter if you have seen Twelfth Night performed before, you will never have seen it performed with same care and attention, the same bounding energy or the captivating release by everybody involved. No other city perhaps would pull out all the stops for the first production but this being Liverpool the demand of its people are such that no other writer could perhaps set the standard for the future than William Shakespeare. In Gemma Bodinetz, the play was in exceptional hands and the naughtiness that was promised came tumbling out as if every sprite and every piece of magic had decided to descend onto the floor of the stage at the same time and weave its luxurious spell.

The cast was a delight; there is no other way to suggest that like the final large scale production to take place in the old Everyman, Macbeth, if the play was the thing, the cast became the play, the revelled in the mischief, the wonderful lines and the finest opening to a play you will arguably ever see. With each cast member throwing their heart into the play, it was heartening to hear the honest appreciation of every single member of the audience. In particular though, the performances of the brilliant Jodie McNee as Viola, the magnificent Matthew Kelly, making a long awaited return to Liverpool, as Sir Toby Belch and Paul Duckworth as Feste the Fool, a show-stealing performance in itself, captured the mood of role reversal, of the blurring between so called acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in such a wonderful, beautifully obliging way that the heart was not left wanting and never once waned in disappointment.

If…This is a production is which all others are going to be compared to in the years ahead then it can only be good for the city. An exceptional, outstanding and praiseworthy performance, the naughtiness is an absolute joy.

Ian D. Hall