Jordon Jones reviews Shakespeare’s Greatest Comedy, by Joe Bennett, presented at Lyttelton Arts Factory as part of the Lyttelton Arts Festival, Sunday 5 July 2026.
Thanks to the Lyttelton Arts Festival, which kicked off last week, I had the pleasure of going along to see local legend Joe Bennett discuss the Bard in Shakespeare’s Greatest Comedy. You might be familiar with Bennett’s work as an award-winning columnist or a bestselling novelist, but he’s also a hell of a public speaker and, it turns out, just as big a Shakespeare nerd as I am.
But what is Shakespeare’s greatest comedy? Opinions differ greatly on that point, as indicated by the audience’s varied suggestions (loved the Comedy of Errors rep!), but to Bennett’s mind the winner can only be Twelfth Night, a story known for its genderbending antics, awkward love triangle, and mild torture of an uppity steward. His mission for the afternoon was simple: convince us of this play’s brilliance, armed only with a slideshow and his considerable stage presence.
The performance that followed was one part dramatic reading, and one part lecture. Bennett led the audience through an abridgement of Twelfth Night (he reckoned it was about half the text) while providing a running commentary to add useful context, emphasise themes, and clarify some of the 400-year-old language as needed. I know it sounds a bit dry when I describe it like that, but Bennett’s lively energy and witty asides kept the audience captivated from the moment he walked onstage to the final wrap-up.
It was plain to see that Bennett is intimately familiar with the play Twelfth Night itself, as well as the social and literary context surrounding it. He touched on the meaning of the play’s title―and its subtitle, What You Will―as a reference to the traditional upending of the social order during the holiday of Twelfth Night, which is a good description of the plot. Bennett then summed up its main theme as “everyone’s faking it except those who are really faking it”, which is also a pretty apt description; while Duke Orsino play-acts at being in love and the fair lady Olivia puts on a façade of grief, the most honest character of the play is Viola, the girl who has disguised herself as a page boy.
Between excitedly presenting nuggets of useful information, Bennett got really enthusiastic about the reading itself. He took clear joy from the different characters, saving particular relish for the fun ones like Toby Belch and Malvolio, and even broke into song a couple of times. And I wasn’t kidding about the energy―Bennett had to gallop through the abridged text to get through it all. (There’s no way it could have fit into the advertised 1-hour slot, but I was impressed that he managed it in 1 hour 45 minutes.) Nevertheless, he was careful to make sure that everyone in the audience was keeping up with the pace and staying engaged.
Joe Bennett’s exploration of Twelfth Night, arguably Shakespeare’s greatest comedy, had the dual successes of being educational and also a jolly good time. I can see it being a great introduction to the play for any audience members who were not already familiar with it, while those of us coming in with more knowledge got to enjoy hearing Bennett’s take on it. His infectious enthusiasm may have even changed a few minds about favourites, though in my case it merely deepened my appreciation for a play that remains firmly mid-list.
In case you’re free the afternoon of Sunday the 12th, Bennett will be back on the Lyttelton Arts Factory stage to talk about comic writing. I’m greatly looking forward to seeing him again then, and hope to see a bunch of you there too!
The Lyttelton Arts Festival runs until Sunday 12 July 2026. More information can be found here.
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