Much care, thought and craft has gone into the making of Andrew Hinds's stylish new production of Twelfth Night. With its assortment of costumes - from Restoration fop to Teddy boy - and chorus of accents, Hinds has given us a production for all times and all places, celebrating its wonderful mix of characters, wallowing in the heady atmosphere of faraway Ilyria, patiently - perhaps a little too patiently at first - building up then untangling the maze of mixed-gender love affairs and refusing to shirk the dark, spiteful tale of Malvolio's inflicted madness.
This large cast, drawn from far and wide, works extremely well as an ensemble. Andrew Frame, Deirdre Molloy and Liz Kuti are attractive, rock solid and beautifully spoken as the love triangle of Orsino, Viola-Cesario and Olivia. Keith Dunphy brings wisdom and fun to his Dublin bar-room philosopher-clown Feste; Karl O'Neill, his lemon-sucking face pinched in pain and pleasure, is a ludicrous yet pathetic Malvolio; Sheelagh O'Kane, Ken Sharrock, Paul McEneaney and the superbly inventive Richard Dormer as, respectively, Maria, Sir Toby Belch, Fabian and Sir Andrew Aguecheek are a wickedly mischievous quartet of revellers. And Gary McCann's bleached wooden deck, watched over by a Januslike burnished sun, underlines the idea of exotic distant shores, basking in Roger Nicholson's mellow lighting.
Plays until October 23rd (Bookings 08 01232 381081)