Theatre review: I, Malvolio

One of a series of Tim Crouch monologues for Shakespearean supporting characters, I, Malvolio is the first of them to come to the Swanamaker, and the first one I've seen. Malvolio is the puritanical steward in Twelfth Night, who's tricked into believing his mistress loves him, humiliates himself for her, and is imprisoned as a madman for it. It's an uncomfortably dark subplot of an otherwise popular comedy, and that's the aspect Crouch focuses on as he brings Malvolio back on stage after the play's end, muttering and ranting to himself, quite possibly having been driven mad for real. In a show that's half play half stand-up routine, he starts on time, all the better to berate latecomers, or anyone who's given themselves a seat upgrade or left their phone on. But he's also brought a noose with him, and wants audience participation to help him use it.

This is where the show becomes overtly metatheatrical, with Crouch jumping in and out of character, goading the audience on as writer-performer, then criticising them for their callousness as Malvolio. Crouch has done hundreds of performances of the show over 13 years, and it's a finely honed piece that largely plays out as an extended insult comedy routine, with this afternoon's audience relishing the opportunity to be roasted by one of fiction's most notorious misanthropes.

The other running theme is that, as a Puritan, Malvolio would of course have disapproved of theatre itself, which is why he'd have particular contempt for the audience. (The Swanamaker is especially hurtful to him, someone having gone to the trouble of recreating a theatre that had already been lost.) The line about Malvolio being revenged on the whole pack is often repeated, the implication being that in real life Malvolio did get his revenge when the Puritans closed all the theatres. He has a smaller revenge in mind for this particular audience, but still very much on-theme. Originally created for younger audiences, I, Malvolio is still broad enough to appeal to all ages (it does after all include inviting an audience member on stage to kick him in the arse,) while offering an interesting look at the play and what's going on beneath the surface (even as Malvolio sneers at anyone with any great reverence for Shakespeare.)

I, Malvolio by Tim Crouch is booking in repertory until the 9th of December at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Robbie Jack.