Mixed sex comedy mixed bag of theatre

“Twelfth Night,” the Shakespeare Northwest companion comedy with “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” at Blackrock Amphitheater does not maintain the sparkle of its sister “Night.” Still, see both, to watch almost half of the cast in repertoire.

Director Bjorn Whitney sought to turn the original Shakespearean casting on its head: While the Shakespearean stage employed all male actors, this has primarily a female cast. Whitney does not make clear to the audience in his director’s statement, or on stage, the androgynous, gender bending mistaken identity of teen twins Viola and Sebastian, whose ship went down, with Sebastian lost, before the play opens. Shakespeare’s twins are a boy and a girl, but both are girls here.

Androgyny means a fluidity between genders, a blending of male into female or vice versa, but while Whitney discusses the appropriateness of the 1980s setting in the director’s statement, the audience gets no cues on the stage that the cast of females acting as males are bending gender norms.

Like “Midsummer’s Night,” this “Night” also turns on the conceit of a mistaken identify. Here, Viola comes into the Count’s court dressed and disguised as a male, Cesario. Alas, Viola (solidly and stoically played by Glynna Goff) enters as herself, with long hair, appearing to the audience as a woman, not the least bit androgynous. Those who don’t know the plot or miss her being called “Cesario” by Orsino (Devin Breuer) or others who didn’t project their voices, may be confused by this and the other named male characters acted by women.

Carolyn Travis, as Toby Becher, was totally into a very convincing decadent, hedonistic, drunk male rocker. She brought her character into the late 20th century, but unfortunately the rest of the cast, while also costumed in 1980s attire, failed to translate Shakespeare into that “androgynous decade” the director’s notes forecast.

The fool, Feste, is wonderfully played by Jaime Mastromonica. As part of Toby’s team, with Andrew (Lydia Randall), Maria (Elizabeth Lundquist as an overbearing servant) and Curio (a solid Jessica Wahlgren), they provide a gentle slapstick touch and share a late 20th century wink-wink cynicism.

The countess, Olivia (Beth Greatorex, smitten for Cesario), is pursued by poor foolish Malvario (James Brown). Malvario, in classic Shakespeare, is a fool fooled by the Fool, and the Fool’s cohorts.

Here, too, all ends well, helped by costuming (Randall and Brown) that links siblings Viola and Sebastian.

The two comedies are in rotation Thursday-Sunday through August 18.

Tickets and schedule information: shakesnw.org/calendar.