Phylip Harries, Theatr Clwyd’s legendary panto dame, knows a thing or two about comedy from his 19 years fronting the Flintshire theatre’s annual Christmas spectacular.

This April however he’s taking on a new role as the iconic Malvolio in Theatr Clwyd’s new production of Twelfth Night.

“I’ve been very lucky to have performed in a few Shakespeare plays” Harries begins, “I played Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing.”

But for Harries, the role of Malvolio is a dream.
“It is” he states “one of Shakespeare’s great comedic parts.”

Twelfth Night is a story of shipwrecked twins, mistaken identities, love triangles, and comic deception. This new production, directed by Welsh director Juliette Manon, is the first Shakespeare to be produced by Theatr Clwyd since its major refurbishment. Relocated to a faded 1970s hotel in North Wales it promises to be big, bold, loud and proud with love, above all, at its heart.

But while many audiences have fallen in love with Shakespeare, others view his work as difficult. Harries, however describes Twelfth Night as not so dissimilar to the pantomime, with “audience participation, music, clownery and stock, larger-than-life-characters, it’s all in Shakespeare’s plays too”.

At the core of Twelfth Night is the notoriously disagreeable and puritanical Malvolio, deeply serious and, for the audience, simultaneously deeply funny. Harries recognises the paradox. “The trick with making Malvolio’s character work” he says “is to get the balance right of his pomposity and his naivety - the comedy can only work if he appears serious at first”.

As he returns to the rehearsal room we ask him how he approaches a role like Malvolio, he smiles as he replies “whether it’s Shakespeare or pantomime, it’s always about finding the truth in the role and fully inhabiting that world.”

Twelfth Night runs at Theatr Clwyd from Saturday 25 April to Saturday 16 May.