Arriving at the Grosvenor Open Air Theatre was a sight to see. The audience was togged up in waterproofs and wellies but that didn’t stop the bottles of prosecco popping and the fantastic picnics on show. We however were lucky enough that the rain stopped just before the production began and it stayed dry the whole way through. However, I don’t think the rain would have put anybody off.
This is the third of the Shakespeare’s plays that I’ve seen at the Open Air Theatre and Twelfth Night did not disappoint. The actors truly deserved the ecstatic round of applause from the audience at the end. They had us captivated throughout, with quippy jokes and some modern twists on this classic. This story took us though grief, love and betrayal and through this the actors were completely versatile to their roles, this can especially be said for the character Malvolio (Samuel Collings), who goes through many emotional states throughout the play.
The actors who play Toby Belch (Chris Wright) and Andrew Aguecheek (Mitesh Soni) made a great duo and had the crowd in stiches at times. Added to by the fantastic music throughout, which Feste (Jessica Dives) was mostly to thank. She’s a very talented actor and musician so much so she managed to get the crowd singing along with her at points. This play was so enchanting, at one point I was almost brought to tears by the embrace between Sebastian (Marc Benga) and Viola (Whitney Kehinde). Something that can only been said from an impressive set of actors who were able to bring the play to life. There were lots of familiar faces from previous Grosvenor plays and as usual the whole cast were fantastic.
This is the 10 year anniversary for the Grosvenor Open Air Theatre and things just keep getting better. This was certainly the best of the Shakespeare play’s that I’ve seen so far. This is perfect for an evening of culture, fun and a belly full of laughs. Along with the usual bar and nibble as an added bonus, you can now pre-order pizza to eat during the show from the Twelfth Slice – who doesn’t love a good pun?
Twelfth night runs till 24th August. Run time of around 3 hours including interval.
The Chester blog 
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