The Everyman is back and bursts into life with Artistic Director Gemma Bodinetz’s production of Twelfth Night from the 8th March to 5th April. The production sees the return of two members of the celebrated Everyman Company of 1974 with Nicholas Woodeson playing Malvolio and Matthew Kelly as Sir Toby Belch. They will be joined by an ensemble of talent that includes Natalie Dew as Olivia, Jodie McNee and Luke Jerdy as twins Viola and Sebastian.
The Everyman opened in 1964 with a production of Henry IV part I and its new incarnation follows suit by opening with a Shakespeare production. Gemma Bodinetz’s production blends the Everyman’s rebellious history with Twelfth Night’s themes of a night of misrule and naughtiness as a host of mismatched lovers and fools search for their own happy endings.
Gemma Bodinetz said, “Twelfth Night celebrates love, youth and a renegade spirit. It has an ensemble of characters as rich and idiosyncratic as any play in the English language and offered wonderful opportunities to assemble an extraordinary cast. It is a feast of a play, as poignant as it is hilarious and with Feste’s final lines: ‘And we’ll strive to please you every day’ it seemed to embody everything we have been talking about in terms of the new Everyman for many years now.”
Gemma Bodinetz’s ensemble company includes a host of actors closely associated with the theatre. Matthew Kelly (Educating Rita, Menier Chocolate Factory; Of Mice And Men, Birmingham Rep; Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare’s Globe) and Nicholas Woodeson (Chariots of Fire, Hampstead Theatre; The Homecoming, R.S.C.; An Inspector Calls, (Novello Theatre) will reunite having been part of the famous company of 1974. Kelly last appeared at the Everyman in 2008 in End Game.
Adam Levy, whose Shakespearean credits include Henry V at the National Theatre, The Winter’s Tale for Propeller and Troilus and Cressida at the R.S.C., was in The Kindness of Strangers at the Everyman in 2004 and will play Orsino in Twelfth Night. David Rubin who plays Antonio in the Everyman production, previous Shakespearean credits include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Winter’s Tale and Titus Andronicus at the R.S.C.
The ensemble includes a host of well-loved Liverpudlian actors. Pauline Daniels (Shirley Valentine and Held, Liverpool Playhouse), who appeared in Unprotected at the Everyman in 2006, takes her first Shakespearean role as Maria. Jodie McNee (King Lear, Shakespeare’s Globe; The Seagull, Arcola; The Empty Quarter, Hampstead Theatre) after previously featuring in Canary and When We Are Married at the Playhouse makes her Everyman debut as Viola.
Neil Caple (The Misanthrope and The Hypochondriac, Liverpool Playhouse), who was in Macbeth in the final production before the theatre’s redevelopment, plays Curio. Caple has featured many times on the Everyman stage, including Billy Wonderful (2009) and Unprotected (2006). Adam Keast (Buddy and Ferry Cross The Mersey, West End; The Rise & Fall of Little Voice at Bolton Octagon) is Andrew Aguecheek, Paul Duckworth (Beating Berlusconi, King’s Head, London; Urban Legend, The May Queen and Unprotected, Liverpool Everyman) plays Feste, while Alan Stocks (Dead Heavy Fantastic, Liverpool Everyman; Tartuffe and A Streetcar Named Desire, Liverpool Playhouse) is Fabian.
Natalie Dew (Fault Lines, Hampstead Theatre; Romeo and Juliet, National Theatre), who was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award for her portrayal of Viola in 2008, plays Olivia in the Everyman production. The ensemble also includes Luke Jerdy (War Horse, New London Theatre; 1984, Royal Exchange Theatre) as Sebastian and Robin Morrissey (Cloud Atlas; The Accrington Pals, Manchester Royal Exchange) as Valentine.
Tickets for Twelfth Night are priced at £12 to £24 and are available by telephone on 0151 709 4776, online at www.everymanplayhouse.com or from the Playhouse Theatre Box office.