SOURCE: "Plain-Speaking in Illyria," in The Times Literary Supplement, No. 4591, March 29, 1991, p. 16.

Surprisingly, and disappointingly, this production lacks direction. Its aim is plain, and deserving of applause; let Shakespeare speak, without superimposed interpretation. The play itself, from its first line to its last, pleads for just such a performance. It avowedly strives to please us by presenting love and drama in terms of music, of which we can also make what we will. For this purpose, Peter Hall eschews both the broad approach of the English Shakespeare Company and the subtler individual detail of its Royal counterpart. His musical models are neither choral works nor Lieder but Mozart operas; in theory, the perfect paradigm for the exposition and resolution of sexual ambiguities and tensions. At The Playhouse, the actual onstage music is minimal, if not minimalist; but the quasi-musical effects are pervasive. Thus Maria Miles, who has an...