‘If music be the food of love, play on…’ From the opening scene of Orsino’s melancholy laments to the closing jig, this was a play interspersed with musical accompaniment, which filled the Peterhouse deer park with an overarching ambience that felt supremely Shakespearian. Music, drama, and acting merged together beneath the summer atmosphere in the Heywood Society’s fantastic rendition of Shakespeare’s famous comedy. Indeed, ‘if theatre be the food of summer, play on…’

As well as the impression made upon the ear by the pleasant renaissance band of recorders, tambourines and lutes of varying degrees of authenticity, the park was filled with the words of Shakespeare, audible in spite of the wind and conveyed with the aid of well-chosen actions. The characters portrayed the true meaning of Shakespeare’s complicated language with phenomenal insight, drawing out not only the explicit but also the implied meaning in Shakespeare’s text.

The characterisation in the play was definitely to be commended. There were absolutely fantastic recreations of the foolish Sir Andrew Aguecheek by Kate Jones, the drunkard Sir Toby by Dan Gethin, the ‘beagle true-bred’ wench Maria by Millie Foy, and the mad Malvolio by Julian Sutcliffe. The sub-plot of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria, Feste and Fabian was phenomenally developed, allowing for verbal wit and physical farce. They truly brought to life the hilarity of the trick played upon poor Malvolio, ‘strange, stout, in yellow stockings, and cross-gartered’, and provided a continuous theme of sunny comedy amidst the seriousness of Orsino’s court with its confusing knot of love triangles. The double plots running throughout worked really well, achieving the right balance of ‘improbable fiction’ and the serious mistaken identity of ‘one face, one voice, one habit, and two persons!/A natural perspective, that is and is not!’ Doubling worked effectively throughout the play, one highlight of which was the scene in which Natalie Reeve switched on-stage between Sir Topas and Feste

Overall, this turned out to be a true summer treat, a perfect relaxation for those recovering from the stress of past exams, with the recreation of the mad world of Illyria set amidst the picturesque Peterhouse Deer Park, uniquely decorated with hanging lanterns and ribbons to demarcate the stage, the audience perched upon picnic blankets enjoying Pimm’s and nibbles. This was definitely a performance not to be missed – and not only highly praised by me, but also by the Master of Peterhouse himself, whose enjoyment of the first performance was apparent throughout.