Twelfth Night Reviews

Washington Post- Recommended

"...Folger Theatre's season closer seems, at first, to show signs of sweaty overdecoration. The set, composed of pseudo-brutalist slabs draped in tarps, fights with the theater's dignified wood interior. There's a real surfeit of codpieces - embroidered, beaded, sewn in satin and lace - which, over the course of the show, are scratched, caressed, cupped and unzipped. "The guiding question in the rehearsal room is: What would RuPaul do?" the program reads, ominously. Yet Mei Ann Teo's production is, in its way, slyly classic: shamelessly entertaining, vibrant and bighearted."

DC Theater Arts- Highly Recommended

"...Twelfth Night at the Folger is so innovative that you might mistake it for the latest work of that talented young playwright William Shakespeare. Love transcends gender, grief contains the promise of healing, and the joy of creativity transports us into a world alive with desire."

Talkin Broadway- Highly Recommended

"...Director Mei Ann Teo uses gender expression as the ruling motivation throughout this production, an update of the tradition in Shakespeare's time to cast boy actors in female roles. Scenic designer David I. Reynoso envisions the setting as a featureless expanse of concrete and hanging sheets of plastic, barren until set pieces allow particular locations to appear and disappear as needed."

Washington City Paper- Recommended

"...Regardless of all its big swings-successful and not-this Twelfth Night admirably preserves and promotes the bent toward joyfulness even in the midst of tragedy that lies at the play's heart. Longtime lovers of the work will delight in revisiting one of Shakespeare's best, especially as the rising roar of Pride pulsates with a renewing undercurrent of protest. And newcomers to the piece will benefit from an introduction that is imbued with Teo's fundamental attitude toward it: "The action of the play is to PLAY." You Bard-er work."

MD Theatre Guide- Highly Recommended

"...The production opens with a breathtaking shipwreck sequence. Sound designer Justin Schmitz (they/he) conjures a tempest of echoing howls and crashing rhythms, while plastic covers mimic the roiling sea. Viola, believing her brother Sebastian drowned, dons a male disguise to serve the lovesick Duke Orsino. Orsino sends her (now "Cesario") to court the grieving Olivia on his behalf-only for Olivia to fall for Cesario, Cesario to fall for Orsino, and Sebastian to reappear, igniting further comedic (and carnal) confusion."

BroadwayWorld- Recommended

"..."Twelfth Night" is meant as a comedy first and foremost, and most of that occurs within the horseplay of the supporting players. Among them, Sir Toby Belch (Che Kabia), perhaps for his name alone, if not his drinking exploits, was once thought to be the most colorful of them. And though he's got some solid outfitting from Costume Designer Olivera Gajic, he has his equal in the plaid-wearing fop of Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Hunter Ringsmith), who with Olivia's personal servant Maria (Shubhangi Kuchibhotla) scheme to prank Malvolio (comic highlight Nicholas Yenson) that Olivia is interested in him."