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The royal shakespeare Company is putting on a new production of twelfth Night. It tells the story of twins, Viola and sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck and forced to fend for themselves. disguising herself as a man by the name of Cesario, Viola enters the service of duke orsino who dotes on a woman called olivia (kara tointon). But olivia is also idolised by the steward of her household, Malvolio (ade edmondson) – and finds herself falling for “Cesario”. ade and kara tell nathalie whittle more about the play…
ade edMondson, 60, is married to Jennifer saunders and lives in London. they have three daughters and three grandchildren.
i first performed Shakespeare when i was about 13. i was in a production of A Winter’s Tale at school – it was a nameless part (i was a servant) – and they thought it would be very “moody” if i ran on with a pair of Alsatians! So i came running in with them onto this makeshift stage and it was very funny… but not intentionally!
Back then, i either wanted to be an actor or a rock star – but the ultimate dream was to be at the rSC. And this is the first time i got a sniff of it, so of course, i leapt at the chance. i did a lot of studying when they offered me the role – and i actually developed a real liking for Malvolio as a human being. He’s not treated very well and i don’t think he does enough wrong to warrant it.
what makes this production special is the stonking great cast i get to work with. we’ve got John Hodgkinson playing Sir toby Belch and Michael Cochrane playing his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek who i have a lot of scenes with – and they’re both blindingly funny.
Kara is a gorgeous girl and very talented too. She’s about the same age as one of my daughters, and i can’t help but feel paternal to anyone their age. i want to be able to offer any support i can.
Malvolio has a brilliant “solo” scene – it’s one of my favourites. Sir Andrew and Sir toby are chatting in the background, but he thinks he’s on his own – and he has a soliloquy where he misreads a letter. there’s a little couplet at the end of the scene which refers to a song of the period – “Please one, and please all” – and we’ve found the lyrics to the original song and set it to a Gilbert and Sullivan tune – so i get to have a little song and dance! kara toInton, 34, lives in London.
i like to set myself a challenge each year, so i can look back and think, “Yes, i pushed myself” – this year, it’s Twelfth Night. i’ve seen Shakespeare plays, which have moved me – and others that have made me want to chop my arm off! So my main aim – and challenge – is to make sure everyone who comes to watch understands what the heck is going on – and what i’m actually saying!
My character, olivia, is adored by a fair few of Shakespeare’s characters – and i have to admit, that’s been quite fun to play! what i hope people will go away thinking about is how love has no boundaries. the play shows that love is love, regardless of what gender a person is, which is true. it’s a very modern play in that respect.
i have to wear a corset – and you might be surprised to know it actually has its advantages. You don’t realise how fit you get from wearing one! it’s the breath control when you’re doing theatre – you have to use the old lungs quite deeply. And it’s great for my posture too.
the perfect curls you’ll see me sporting on stage aren’t actually my own. i wear a three-quarter wig, where you only have an inch of your own hair on show at the front. it’s so much easier than trying to sort my own hair out.
Ade and i are both rSC newbies – and it’s lovely to be on this adventure with him. He’s a brilliant support and incredibly generous. when there’s downtime in between rehearsals, you’ll usually find us grabbing anyone we can find to practise our lines with! w&h
twelfth night runs at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratfordupon-Avon from 2 November until 24 February 2018; rsc.org.uk