SOURCE: "Turning away from the Mirror," in The Times, London, August 23, 1974, p. 9.

The main intention of Peter Gill's production is inscribed on the back wall of William Dudley's bare set: the figure of Narcissus gazing down into his pool.

Never has Illyria been more remote from the outside world. John Price's Orsino lounges on cushions to languorous violin music fondling whichever favourite happens to be lying closest. Mary Rutherford's Olivia is with-drawn into complacent self-regard as an ice-princess. Malvolio, in his own way, is the greatest narcissist of the lot (and the only one who finally resists cure).

All are intoxicated with their own reflections, and the function of Viola and Sebastian is to put them through an Ovidian obstacle course from which they learn to turn away from the mirror and form real attachments.

The emphasis is on the play's erotic metamorphoses, and this means underplaying the...