“Twelfth Night”


Ernest Thesiger as Malvolio


Open Air  Theatre, London

July 10 - 29, 1944

24 perf


 

The Tatler, July 16, 1944

“Ernest Thesiger has less ‘business’ than most Malvolios, but the elegance and skill of his work is thoroughly satisfying.  With the singularity and artifice of the part he mingles a thread of humanity which makes his final humiliation exceedingly moving.  The sudden appeal for pity of many Malvolios usually fails.  This Malvolio, because there had from the start been flesh and blood behind the strange, dark, jeweled exterior, not only gains pity but has a certain dignity which his detractors could never have come by.  Yet with all this, there is the feeling that a truer appreciation of Mr. Thesiger’s art would be possible in a ‘real’ theatre.”

The Stage, July 13, 1944