into a world of expansive great houses and the rich, open landscape of faraway mountains, open fields, and the promise of unlimited vistas or reverberate hills.” 38
In 1937 the BBC broadcast a live excerpt of the play, the first known instance of a work of Shakespeare being performed on television, which featured a young Greer Garson. A 1939 television production of the entire play directed by Michel Saint-Denis starred Peggy Ashcroft as Viola and George Devine as Sir Toby. In 1970 John Dexter and John Sichel produced a version for television with Ralph Richardson as Sir Toby, Alec Guinness as Malvolio, and Tommy Steele as a youthful Feste, with Joan Plowright playing both Viola and Sebastian. Two years later Ron Wertheim’s Playboy production was made: “As one might expect, the language of the play is ruthlessly cut to accommodate numerous and oddly innocent examples of Illyrian erotic revelry, rich in nudity, pastoral landscapes, soft-focus camerawork, and slow motion.” 39 The BBC’s 1980 version is generally regarded as more successful, “graced with spirited performances by Felicity Kendall as Viola and Sinead Cusack as Olivia,” with Alec McCowen as Malvolio and Robert Hardy as Sir Toby.It nevertheless “still suffered to some extent under the weight of canonical seriousness,” and Ford notes: “There was a strange echo of the detailed, illusionistic settings of Beerbohm Tree.” 40
Trevor Nunn, who surprisingly had never directed the play on stage in his distinguished theatrical career, directed a successful film version in 1996. It was set in the nineteenth century and boasted a star-studded cast, with Imogen Stubbs as Viola, Helena Bonham-Carter as Olivia, Toby Stephens as Orsino, Mel Smith as Sir Toby, Richard E. Grant as Sir Andrew, Ben Kingsley as Feste, Imelda Staunton as Maria, and Nigel Hawthorne as Malvolio. The film opens by “inventing a kind of mock prologue that depicts the sinking of the ship and the rescue of Viola.” 41 Ford argues that “Nunn’s emphasis on song and music … allow his film to capture some of the aural energies of the play without compromising the film.” Nunn successfully exploits filmic technique: “In one wonderful moment early in the film, Nunn uses the camera to capture the complex energies swirling within Viola. We see her in disguise, walking along the sea, determined to master her manly walk in a state of mind both resourceful and ironic.” 42
There were ironic references to
Twelfth Night
in John Madden’s 1998 film
Shakespeare in Love
in which Gwyneth Paltrow played a young noblewoman called Viola who disguises herself as a boy in order to become an actor. In 2003 Tim Supple directed an updated version for television with Parminder Nagra as Viola, David Troughton as Sir Toby, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Orsino, and Michael Maloney as Malvolio. A Channel 4 documentary charted the course of production—
21st Century Bard: The Making of Twelfth Night
. In 2006 a contemporary teenage update called
She’s the Man
, directed by Andy Fickman and starring Amanda Hynes, set the play in a prep school called Illyria.
AT THE RSC
Laughter in Illyria?
Twelfth Night
is often referred to as Shakespeare’s most melancholy or darkest comedy, and surely unrequited love and grief are not what you’d instantly think of as the basis for laughter. Nevertheless, themost painful of emotions are often the catalyst for the most beautiful of poetry. Writing about tragedy, Shelley believed, “The pleasure that is in sorrow is sweeter than the pleasure of pleasure itself.” 43 Shakespeare’s genius in
Twelfth Night
is to take the pleasure that we feel from tragedy and successfully combine it with farce to create a hauntingly bittersweet comedy. The effect on the audience is to have them on the verge of tears or laughter at any given moment. In doing so he has created the most potent mixture of pleasures derived from the light and dark sides of literature.
The director of a
In 1937 the BBC broadcast a live excerpt of the play, the first known instance of a work of Shakespeare being performed on television, which featured a young Greer Garson. A 1939 television production of the entire play directed by Michel Saint-Denis starred Peggy Ashcroft as Viola and George Devine as Sir Toby. In 1970 John Dexter and John Sichel produced a version for television with Ralph Richardson as Sir Toby, Alec Guinness as Malvolio, and Tommy Steele as a youthful Feste, with Joan Plowright playing both Viola and Sebastian. Two years later Ron Wertheim’s Playboy production was made: “As one might expect, the language of the play is ruthlessly cut to accommodate numerous and oddly innocent examples of Illyrian erotic revelry, rich in nudity, pastoral landscapes, soft-focus camerawork, and slow motion.” 39 The BBC’s 1980 version is generally regarded as more successful, “graced with spirited performances by Felicity Kendall as Viola and Sinead Cusack as Olivia,” with Alec McCowen as Malvolio and Robert Hardy as Sir Toby.It nevertheless “still suffered to some extent under the weight of canonical seriousness,” and Ford notes: “There was a strange echo of the detailed, illusionistic settings of Beerbohm Tree.” 40
Trevor Nunn, who surprisingly had never directed the play on stage in his distinguished theatrical career, directed a successful film version in 1996. It was set in the nineteenth century and boasted a star-studded cast, with Imogen Stubbs as Viola, Helena Bonham-Carter as Olivia, Toby Stephens as Orsino, Mel Smith as Sir Toby, Richard E. Grant as Sir Andrew, Ben Kingsley as Feste, Imelda Staunton as Maria, and Nigel Hawthorne as Malvolio. The film opens by “inventing a kind of mock prologue that depicts the sinking of the ship and the rescue of Viola.” 41 Ford argues that “Nunn’s emphasis on song and music … allow his film to capture some of the aural energies of the play without compromising the film.” Nunn successfully exploits filmic technique: “In one wonderful moment early in the film, Nunn uses the camera to capture the complex energies swirling within Viola. We see her in disguise, walking along the sea, determined to master her manly walk in a state of mind both resourceful and ironic.” 42
There were ironic references to
Twelfth Night
in John Madden’s 1998 film
Shakespeare in Love
in which Gwyneth Paltrow played a young noblewoman called Viola who disguises herself as a boy in order to become an actor. In 2003 Tim Supple directed an updated version for television with Parminder Nagra as Viola, David Troughton as Sir Toby, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Orsino, and Michael Maloney as Malvolio. A Channel 4 documentary charted the course of production—
21st Century Bard: The Making of Twelfth Night
. In 2006 a contemporary teenage update called
She’s the Man
, directed by Andy Fickman and starring Amanda Hynes, set the play in a prep school called Illyria.
AT THE RSC
Laughter in Illyria?
Twelfth Night
is often referred to as Shakespeare’s most melancholy or darkest comedy, and surely unrequited love and grief are not what you’d instantly think of as the basis for laughter. Nevertheless, themost painful of emotions are often the catalyst for the most beautiful of poetry. Writing about tragedy, Shelley believed, “The pleasure that is in sorrow is sweeter than the pleasure of pleasure itself.” 43 Shakespeare’s genius in
Twelfth Night
is to take the pleasure that we feel from tragedy and successfully combine it with farce to create a hauntingly bittersweet comedy. The effect on the audience is to have them on the verge of tears or laughter at any given moment. In doing so he has created the most potent mixture of pleasures derived from the light and dark sides of literature.
The director of a
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