Twelfth Night, or What You Will
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The entire play was produced for television in 1939, directed by Michel Saint-Denis and starring another future oscar-winner, Peggy Ashcroft. The part of Sir Toby Belch was taken by a young George Devine.
The 1996 film adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn, is set in the 19th century, stars Imogen Stubbs as Viola, Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia, and features Mel Smith as Sir Toby, Richard E. Grant as Sir Andrew and Ben Kingsley as Feste.
A 2003 telemovie adapted and directed by Tim Supple is set in the present day. It features David Troughton as Sir Toby, and is notable for its multi-ethnic cast including Parminder Nagra as Viola. Its portrayal of Viola and Sebastian's arrival in Illyria is reminiscent of news footage of asylum seekers.
The 2006 film She's the Man modernises the story as a contemporary teenage comedy (as 10 Things I Hate about You does to The Taming of the Shrew and O does to Othello). It is set in a prep school named Illyria and incorporates the names of the play's major characters (for example, "Duke Orsino" becomes simply "Duke" and his last name is Orsino.) The pizza place in it is named "Cesario's" and there are many references in the movie to minor characters in Twelfth Night, such as Sir Toby, Feste, Valentine, and Malvolio.
The climax of the film Shakespeare in Love dramatises a fictional inspiration for Twelfth Night.
The film V for Vendetta contains significant references to the play, including the fact that the female lead, Evey (Natalie Portman), played the role of Viola.
The play on the stage
When the play was first performed, all female parts were played by men or boys, but it has been the practice for some centuries now to cast women or girls in the female parts in all plays. The company of Shakespeare's Globe, London, has produced many notable, highly popular all-male performances, and a highlight of their 2002 season was Twelfth Night, with the Globe's artistic director Mark Rylance playing the part of Olivia. This season was preceded, in February, by a performance of the play by the same company at Middle Temple Hall, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the play's premiere, at the same venue.References
- ↑ Vahimagi, Tise. British Television: An Illustrated Guide. Oxford. Oxford University Press / British Film Institute. 1994. ISBN 0-19-818336-4. (Page 8).
External links
- [Searchable Twelfth Night Etext]
- [Twelfe Night] - HTML version of this title.
- [Twelfth Night] - plain vanilla text from Project Gutenberg
- [Slashdoc : Twelfth Night] - Scholarly essays on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
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