TWELFTH NIGHT, or What You Will

TWELFTH NIGHT or What You WillBevington, Chapter 10

The Melancholy ComedyWritten, 1601 and performed by law students in 1602Despite happy resolution to love story, play ends with melancholyCurse of MalvolioSad song HeyHo, the Wind andthe Rain

The Title Refers to January 6, the end of the Christmas season. In Elizabeths time, the Feast of Fools was celebrated between Christmas and Epiphany and had become a secular comedy

Two plots Love plot (Viola, Orsino, Olivia)Gulling of Malvolio

The play is self-referentialAs Fabian speaks in Act III If this were played upon the stage, now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.

Characters

Duke Orsino is lovesick and counterbalanced by MalvolioOlivias mournful love is contrasted to Tobys love of drinkSir Andrew is as foolish as the fool is wiseTwin plots intersect twice (3.1) and (5.1)Viola is at the center of the play and has a parallel in Antonio who places needs of others ahead of selfLovers are gently satirical comic portraits of Renaissance writers

Renaissance character typesCAST INTO ENGLISH MOLDSSir Toby is the braggartSir Andrew is the imposterMaria is the sassy servantFeste is the wise fool

Sources and inspirationsPhilip Sidneys ARCADIAEmmanuel Fordes PARISMUSBarnabe Riches APOLLONIUS AND SILLATHE MANAECHMI of PlautusNiccolo Secchi GLINGANNATI produced in Siena in 1531

Robert ArminComedian Will Kempe was replaced in Shakespeares company by Robert Armin, an accomplished musician and singer, Feste was no doubt written for him

Other speculationsSpeculation from final scene of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is informed by scholar Leslie Hotson who posits the first performance was at the Queens bidding

Performed at Middle Temple on February, 1602...one of the few accounts of a Shakespeare play in performance during his lifetime

The PuritansThe Puritan Strain might be references to noted Puritans of the day such as Sir William Knollys, comptroller of Queens household -or- John Darrell, a Puritan preacher who initiated a war of pamphlets from 1596-1602

Language and MusicLove plot is lyrical verse; Subplot is earthly prosePlay is about finding answers and riddles and wordplay aboundOne of Shakespeares most musical playsShakespeare wrote lyrics, music was provided by Armin and from popular songs of the day. Shakespeare wrote O Mistress Mine but Farewell, my heart was a popular song of the day1999 production in NYC was called PLAY ON! was re-set to Harlem in 40s

Theme of LoveLove, Infatuation and Lust- love at first sight- the fooleries of love- the melancholy of love

Hypocrisy and surpriseReality vs. appearancesReal masks (Sir Topas) vs. psychological masks (Orsino)Funny costume of Malvolio highlights the comic subplot

Carnival vs. LentCarnival vs. Lent Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale? crystallizes the battle between the expansive and repressive forces in the play

MadnessMadness runs throughout the play, Shakespeare shows how close passion is to madness which is also an extension on the carnival-like spirit of the play

Staging ChallengesThe many moods of the playWhere is Illyria?Identical twins and the love triangleThe tyranny of the subplotPoor AntonioThe miraculous ending

Twelfth NightOn stageElizabethanRelatively few memorable productions in Shakespeares time

Late 17th and 18th Centuries His least performed play until late-18th centurySamuel Pepys saw a performance in 1663Dr. Samuel Johnson enjoyed it despite its credibilityFirst production of consequence in 1741 at Drury Lane with Charles Macklin as MalvolioTransformed into a quasi-opera by Sir Frederick Reynolds and Henry Bishop by the insertion of songs from other playsSad songs were often cut in favor of lighter fare

19th century - RomantacismIn the 1820s actor-manager John Philip Kemble began the practice of inverting the first two scenes

20th centuryAugustin Dalys 1894 production opened with a spectacular shipwreck1901 production by Herbert Beerbohm Tree featured an elaborately terraced garden inspired by photographs in Country Life. It is believed that he is thefirst to put Malvolio in a nightshirt for 2.3

1912A London production was simplified by Granville-Barker and also made the role of Feste more central and wise.

Other notable productionsMalvolio has become more melancholyBranaghs Renaissance production featured a wintry landscape2003 Globe Production was all-male and very Elizabethan

Film and television1910 Silent FilmFirst feature length film was Russian (1955)First Shakespeare play to be broadcast by BBC in 19391957 Hallmark Hall of Fame production in America

1970 - BBCBBC production directed by John Dexter with Joan Plowright, Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson

1980 - BBCBBC production with Felicity Kendal, Sinead Cusack and Alec Macowen

1988 Renaissance TheatreRenaissance Theatre Production by Kenneth Branagh and Paul Kafno (for television) with Frances Barber (Viola) and Richard Briers as Malvolio

1996Trevor Nunn film with Imogen Stubbs, Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Kingsley and Nigel Hawthorne

2001Nick Hynter production at Lincoln Center with Helen Hunt (Viola), Paul Rudd (Orsino) and Philip Bosco (Malvolio)

Spin-offsYour Own Thing (1968)

Music Is (1976)

Play On! (1999)

Anne Hathaway as Viola

NYC, 2009