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27 June 2026
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5*****
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I have waxed lyrical about Sun and Moon Theatre in the past and, with their current production of Twelfth Night, I am not about to stop. Watching this Company at work is one of those deeply comforting theatre experiences which you can just enjoy and not worry that they won’t get it right. It is a modest Company, they do not shout too loudly about their skills and achievements, they let performance do the job.
The skill to adapt the play for a cast of seven is considerable and seamless in its delivery, but it certainly makes for a busy time for the actors who slip in and out of their characters with ease. There is nothing superfluous in their productions, choices of set, props and costumes are carefully made to enhance the flow of the play rather than get in the way of it – Sun and Moon have a formula which works for them, but, most importantly, for the audience too.
In the delightful, small garden beside Lapford Mill, on a very pleasant summer evening, the production can transport you wherever you want – even to Christmas time!
Twelfth Night is probably Shakespeare’s most musical play and David Johnson, as Feste, sets the tone from the off with delightful versions of the text songs along with other interludes throughout – clever and engaging the singing is a joyful. Feste is the most knowing of the three main comic roles; the ludicrous and permanently drunk Sir Toby Belch is played with relish by the splendid Emerson Pike who switches into the smooth-talking Orsino at a stroke. Sam Hunter, an intense Sebastian, is wonderfully dim and awkward as Sir Andrew Aguecheek. When Feste, Belch and Aguecheek are spying on Malvolio, there is great business to be had with a fake Christmas tree – it is a sequence of high comedy which works like a dream and the timing of the actors is superb. Sally Naylor gives Maria an authority over the three reprobates with a mixture of artifice and commonsense which they lack – despite being the arbiter of the plot to humiliate Malvolio, she is never vicious.
I think I could listen to Richard Knox speak the words of the Bard for many a long hour – one rarely gets to hear someone who can recite the lines so naturally and with such clarity – it is a thing of joy. As Malvolio, the pompous steward to Olivia, he is in superb form – hilarious in so many ways, but also a magnet for the audience’s sympathies. His goading by the aforementioned trio is not overplayed – which I have witnessed before and ends up turning you against most of the characters – it is perfectly judged here. Melissa Niamh Barrett is both haughty and naughty as Olivia – her status never in doubt, but the glint in her eye is ever present – a performance full of confidence and nuance.  Beatrice Savill has fun as Viola/Cesario, but there is always a sadness in her and the eventual reconciliation with her brother is, in an instant, extremely emotional.
This is a swan-like production – calm on the stage and manic behind the scenes – the most is made of the venue and the audience is richly entertained. The story is the thing and the Company ensure it is made clear and lucid even with the multi-role playing and Shakespeare’s disguise device.
This is another high-class, production by Sun and Moon Theatre which aims to entertain, rather than lecture, and it achieves that with wit, with knowledge and with skilful acting by the whole Company – they transmit the joy of the text in an infectious and heart-warming fashion.
Cast
Melissa Niamh Barrett – Olivia & Curio
Sam Hunter – Sir Andrew & Sebastian
David Johnson – Feste & Antonio
Richard Knox – Malvolio, Sea Captain & Priest
Sally Naylor – Maria & Valentine
Emerson Pike – Sir Toby & Orsino
Beatrice Savill – Viola
