The Venetian Twins
Yesterday I was given two free last minute tickets to see The Venetian Twins at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton - it was a corporate hospitality event. So Mark and I went along, not knowing what it was about or what to expect.
We haven’t been to the theatre in ages and we haven’t been to the Octagon before so were we rather looking forward to it - something a bit different for a Thursday night anyway. And it was really good fun - I thoroughly enjoyed it. The play was mad - it was set in early 18th Century Italy and was about the chaos caused by twin brothers unwittingly turning up in the same town to get married unbeknowns to eachother. One was immensely stupid and that other rather clever. Yeah, yeah I hear you cry.
OK, it did have a lot of the Shakespearean farce about it - with one huge bonus - it was actually very funny (I have to confess I’ve never found Shakespearean farces even vaguely amusing). The performances were superb, especially the guy playing the twins, and the set really inventive. They had little trampolines all the way around the stage so they could bounce on and off and around and about for comedic effect. And the other actors were in full view making the sound effects etc when they weren’t ‘on stage’ themselves.
It really made me feel good. Apparently not everyone felt the same way though - one corporate guest went home during the interval saying it was the worst play he’d ever seen. Well if we all liked the same …