The Stage

Wilson to star in RSC’s Twelfth Night

Published Thursday 26 March 2009 at 13:44 by Alistair Smith

One Foot in the Grave actor Richard Wilson is to star as Malvolio in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s revival of Twelfth Night this winter.

Gregory Doran will direct the production, which is one of two new shows announced by the RSC today. The other is a revival of Dominic Cooke’s stage adaptation of Arabian Nights, which he will also direct. Both shows will play in the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon.

Twelfth Night will run from October 15 and will also feature Nancy Carroll as Viola and Alexandra Gilbreath as Olivia.

Doran said: “I am delighted to have finally persuaded Richard Wilson to play Malvolio, a part he was surely born to play. And it’s a real pleasure to welcome back Nancy Carroll to play Viola and Alexandra Gilbreath to play Olivia. Nancy and Alexandra appeared opposite each other as Rosalind and Celia in my production of As You Like It in 2000. Twelfth Night is surely the most achingly sad of all Shakespeare’s comedies tinged with a melancholy sadness and almost Chekhovian in its sense of loss.”

Arabian Nights, meanwhile, will be the RSC’s Christmas show, playing from December 5 to January 30, 2010. The show marks former RSC associate Cooke’s return to the RSC after becoming artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre.

He commented: “For a long time I’ve wanted to come back to Shahrazad and the 1001 nights and it’s a fantastic moment to come back to the RSC and re-conceive the work for the dynamic space of the Courtyard.”