Allen Gilmore (far left) plays Malvolio, while (from left) Gabriel Lawrence is Orsino, David Ryan Smith is Sir Toby Belch, and Matthew J. Harris is the Fool in the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production of Malvolio.
Betty Shamieh’s Malvolio, a joyous sequel to Twelfth Night, investigates the life of Malvolio after the events in Shakespeare’s wintry dark comedy. In the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production, 20 years have passed since Olivia’s much-abused steward (Allen Gilmore) threatened revenge on his tormentors. Back then, Malvolio was tricked into believing the Countess Olivia, his mistress, had written a love letter to him and insisting he don yellow, cross-gartered stockings to please her. Swallowing the bait, Malvolio did as the letter requested—and swiftly was incarcerated in Illyria as a lunatic.
In Shamieh’s sequel, Malvolio has reinvented himself as a military general, urging his own Legion of the Cross-Gartered to action:
From left: CB Murray is Father Topas, Paula Galloway is Maria, Harris (right foreground) plays the Fool, and Smith is Sir Toby Belch in the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production of Malvolio.
Brothers, the war you don’t start
Is the one you most need to win.
Take no prisoners. Show no mercy.
Go! Fight! Kill!
If Malvolio’s exhortation kicks off the play on a fierce note, the following scene with Volina (Kineta Kunutu), the independent-minded daughter of Orsino and Viola, brings subtler shades of feeling into the play. It’s Volina’s birthday, and though her parents have planned a party for her to meet the notables of Illyria, Volina tells her nurse (Marjorie Johnson) that she won’t celebrate while Illyrian soldiers are at war. She even contemplates following in the footsteps of Viola (Perri Gaffney), dressing as a boy and enlisting in the army:
Can I do as my mother, Viola, once did long ago?
She landed on our island—a stranger to all—and dressed as a boy.
Can I disguise myself as male too?
To enlist in our army where women soldiers are not welcome?
Although Volina’s cross-dressing isn’t as convincing as her mother’s because of her curvy physique, she gradually realizes that personal agency begins in the mind. That said, she first must extricate herself from a betrothal to the doltish Prince Furtado (JD Mollison) that has been surreptitiously arranged by her society-minded [social-climbing?] father. Then she hopes to meet up again with the military dynamo Malvolio, her new heartthrob.
“The playwright continually points beyond parody to underscore the play’s dominant themes of transformation, forgiveness, and redemption.”
While Volina contemplates the mysteries of love, the audience may observe that marriage hasn’t been a bed of roses for the couples who tied the knot in Twelfth Night. Orsino (René Thornton) has been less than faithful to Viola. His original infatuation for Olivia (Stephanie Berry) has resurfaced since her husband, Sebastian, supposedly drowned at sea. And Maria confesses that she married Sir Toby Belch (David Ryan Smith) for his title, but now must deal with the truth: he’s a cold fish as a husband.
Shamieh’s writing reveals an uncommonly keen ear for all kinds of Black voices. Whether she’s capturing the emotionally distant King Chadlio (John-Andrew Morrison) or the reveler Sir Toby, her dialogue hums with authenticity. She adeptly appropriates phrases and episodes from Twelfth Night and other swaths of Shakespeare’s canon into her work. There are hilarious parodies of Viola washing up on Illyria’s shore, and King Chadlio’s sly revival from seeming death mirrors the one in All’s Well That End’s Well, not to mention other supposed deaths in Shakespeare’s plays. Shamieh has even filched the famous stage direction from The Winter’s Tale (“Exit, pursued by a bear”) and given it a salty twist: “Exit, pursued by a whale.” Yet, under the direction of Ian Belknap and Ty Jones, the writing does not come off as merely joky. The playwright continually points beyond parody to underscore the play’s dominant themes of transformation, forgiveness, and redemption.
Gilmore as Malvolio (left) and John-Andrew Morrison as King Chadlio in Betty Shamieh’s Malvolio at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. Photographs by Richard Termine.
When it comes to the acting, there are a few standouts: Gilmore, playing the eponymous hero, grabs the bull by the horns from the get-go, first revealing the embittered soul of the steward-turned-general and, later on, showing his character’s genuine compassion; John-Andrew Morrison, as the aloof King Chadlio, projects entitlement with a capital E. And Kunutu smartly portrays Volina as a young woman in search of true love.
The stunning video images (Zavier Augustus Lee Taylor) projected onto a panoramic screen at the stage’s back wall wonderfully enhance the action. And the costumes (Celeste Jennings) for this large cast are a vibrant array of the traditional and contemporary. The choreography (Dell Howlett) is crisp, from the opening ensemble number with Malvolio in lockstep with his Legion of the Cross-Gartered to the rousing finale at play’s end.
Under codirectors Belknap and Jones, Malvolio is a modern-day parable that gives Olivia’s steward a second chance at life. For those who have long felt that Malvolio was treated cruelly by the conspirators in Twelfth Night, this sequel to Shakespeare’s play will serve as a kind of emollient to the soul.
The Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production of Malvolio plays through July 29 at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. Evening performances are at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For free tickets and information, visit cthnyc.org.
Playwright: Betty Shamieh
Direction: Ian Belknap and Ty Jones
Sets: Christopher and Justin Swader
Costumes: Celeste Jennings
Lighting: Alan C. Edwards
Sound: Frederick Kennedy
Choreography: Dell Howlett
