SOURCE: "The Sun Returns to Illyria," in The Times, London, March 1, 1991, p. 22.

Not long ago Twelfth Night was regarded as Shakespeare's most serene comedy. Then the scholars remembered that the great tragedies came only a few years later, and began to see darkness, danger and malice behind the play's smiles, and, inevitably, the directors followed. Toby Belch became a horrid, bulbous drone, the practical jokes he plays on Malvolio almost demanded investigation by Amnesty International, and Illyria seemed barely sunnier than Birnam Wood or Dunsinane.

Peter Hall clearly wants to edge back the pendulum. The orange tree in Timothy O'Brien's courtyard set is shedding autumnal leaves David Ryall's clown has his lugubrious moments, but otherwise melancholy is missing. Indeed, Dinsdale Landen's Belch, with his curls, looping moustachios, red Carolean garb and genial grin, seems to be auditioning for a famous painting by Frans Hals. He is not just...