Re-imagining Twelfth Night from Malvolio’s point of view

Tim Crouch is bringing his one man show I, Malvolio, to Sheffield Studio theatre in a rare trip to Yorkshire.

Crouch began making waves in theatre when he performed a solo piece, My Arm, at the Traverse during the Edinburgh Fringe in 2003. Nobody had seen anything quite like it. Odd, endearing and compelling, it was the story of a boy who decided to stick his arm above his head and never take it down again. It was also an exploration of what it means to make theatre, and to watch it.

Since then, he has gone on to make An Oak Tree, a two-hander performed each night with a different actor who has not seen the show or the script, and the Fringe First-winning England, staged in the Fruitmarket Gallery, a deft piece about art, organ donation and the value of human life. His most recent piece, The Author, was staged in Leeds last year, tickets becoming the hottest in the city. The show, which featured two banks of seating with the audience facing each other, also saw the actors sitting among the audience and was considered to be one of the boldest new pieces of theatre produced in years.

His latest show, I, Malvolio, re-imagines Twelfth Night from the point of view of Shakespeare’s pent-up steward. Malvolio is Twelfth Night’s pompous fool, a man who gets his comeuppance when he is tricked into believing a maid has fallen in love with him, leading him famously to appear before her, his yellow stockings ‘cross-gartered’.

I, Malvolio, Sheffield Studio, January 19 to 21. Tickets 0114 2496000.