Twelfth Night

“It boggles the brain that this is the same Patrick Page starring as the fest’s heroic ‘Cyrano.’ Here, he’s a hilariously perfect prig with slicked-down hair and a sad little whistle. This is one Broadway star and serious Shakespearean who doesn’t hesitate to strut onstage in stockings, garters and painfully hitched-up Bermudas, and we can thank him for that.”

“You never quite get how truly brutal Shakespeare is on the pompous, social-climbing sourpuss Malvolio until you watch a true craftsman like Patrick Page ply his trade. The con revealed, Page’s Malvolio—who had previously made an unstarched thigh-high-wearing boob of himself in the hopes of winning Olivia—grabs a handful of facial skin, as though he would rip off his own face if he could, and stalks piteously off the stage. His ‘I’ll be revenged’ is pure venom, and nobody laughs. Twelfth Night isn’t “The Malvolio Show”, but Page almost makes you wish it were.”

“Patrick Page is a scene-stealing marvel as Olivia’s haughty steward Malvolio, whose impossible dream of marrying well above his station is exposed in a cruel prank. Page’s acting prowess makes you sorry for his suffering.”

“Patrick Page makes Malvolio into a puritanical steward for whom every moment is brand new. His black hair Hitler-slicked across his forehead, his gray duds an emblem of repression, Page shows that a little innocence, when spurred by ambition, can be a dangerous thing.”

“Patrick Page is a genuinely reptilian Malvolio, totally without mirth or self-awareness. His painful self-transformation into a picturesque lover is hilarious and as stomach-turning as a dessert gone spoiled.”

“Patrick Page is a fascinating Malvolio, part Charlie Chaplin, part Adolph Hitler and part Georg von Trapp. His demeanor, his whistle blowing, and his physicality are all spot on. Coupled with the actor’s ravishing vocal timbres and pitches, these make him a stellar Malvolio, every overweening inch deserving of the punishment he gets.”