Ford, John R., Twelfth Night: A Guide to the Play (2006). Useful chapters on textual history, sources, structure, themes, critical approaches and performance.
Frye, Northrop, A Natural Perspective: The Development of Shakespearean Comedy and Romance (1965). A slim work of supreme power.
Hotson, Leslie, The First Night of Twelfth Night (1954). Fascinating account, with ingenious detective work and lots of historical details, though the case for the occasion of the first night is not finally proven.
Maslen, R. W., Shakespeare and Comedy (2005). Sets the Elizabethan comedies in the context of both theatrical traditions and anti-stage polemic.
Massai, Sonia, ed., William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night: A Sourcebook (2007). Thorough account of social context, critical history, and performance.
Palmer, D. J., ed., Shakespeare: Twelfth Night: A Casebook (1972). Broad collection of early criticism and influential twentieth-century studies.
Potter, Lois, Twelfth Night: Text and Performance (1985). Part 1, a useful introduction to the text; Part 2 focuses on productions from 1969 to 1982.
Smith, Bruce R., William Shakespeare: Twelfth Night: Texts and Contexts (2001). Detailed account of socio-cultural context.
White, R. S., ed., Twelfth Night: New Casebooks (1996). Theoretically informed selection of essays.
THE PLAY IN PERFORMANCE
Billington, Michael, Approaches to Twelfth Night, Directors' Shakespeare (1990). Illuminating accounts by a variety of modern directors.
Brockbank, Philip, ed., Players of Shakespeare (1985). Actors' firsthand accounts: chapter 4, Donald Sinden on playing Malvolio, pp. 41-66.
Edmondson, Paul, Twelfth Night, Shakespeare Handbooks (2005). Detailed commentary, very good on performance.
Fielding, Emma, Twelfth Night, Actors on Shakespeare (2002). Thoughtful, engaging account of playing Viola with the RSC.
Jackson, Russell, and Robert Smallwood, eds., Players of Shakespeare 2 (1988). Zoe Wanamaker as Viola in Twelfth Night, pp. 81-92.
Nunn, Trevor, William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1996). Screenplay of film plus introduction.
Parsons, Keith, and Pamela Mason, Shakespeare in Performance (1995). Useful introduction by Elizabeth Schafer, lavish illustrations, pp. 227-32.
Pennington, Michael, Twelfth Night: A User's Guide (2000). Detailed account, arising from English Shakespeare Company's 1991 production, unpretentious and readable.
Smallwood, Robert, ed., Players of Shakespeare 5 (2003). Zoe Waites and Matilda Ziegler on playing Viola and Olivia, pp. 60-73.
AVAILABLE ON DVD
Twelfth Night, directed by John Sichel (1969, DVD 2009). Originally produced 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.
Twelfth Night, The Animated Tales directed by Maria Muat (1995, DVD 2007). Excellent Welsh-Russian collaboration with screenplay adapted by Leon Garfield, voiced by Alec McCowan, Michael Kitchen, and Suzanne Burden.
Twelfth Night, directed by John Gorrie for BBC Shakespeare (1980, DVD 2005). One of the best in this series, starring Alec McCowan, Robert Hardy, Robert Lindsay, and Felicity Kendall as Viola.
Twelfth Night, directed by Kenneth Branagh (1988, DVD 2004). Based on Renaissance Theatre Company's stage version, starring Richard Briers, Frances Barber, and Anton Lesser. Twelfth Night, directed by Tim Supple (1988, DVD 2005). Starring Parminder Nagra and Chiwetel Ejiofor in a contemporary update, set in multicultural London.
Twelfth Night, directed by Trevor Nunn (1996, DVD 2001). Star-studded cast in a highly intelligent and nuanced reading, including Imogen Stubbs, Toby Stephens, and Helena Bonham-Carter.
She's the Man, directed by Andy Fickman (2006). Updated American high-school rom-com starring Amanda Bynes as Viola and Channing Tatum as Duke Orsino.
REFERENCES
1. John Manningham, The Diary of John Manningham of the Middle Temple, 1602-1603 (1976), p. 48.
2. Leslie Hotson, The First Night of Twelfth Night (1954).
3. Leonard Digges' prefatory poem to William Shakespeare, Poems (1640), reprinted in 1979 with introduction and notes by Holger M. Klein.
4. Samuel Pepys, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 20 January 1669, ed. Robert Latham and William Matthews, Vol. 9, 1668-69 (1976).
5. John R. Ford, Twelfth Night: A Guide to the Play (2006), p. 137.
6. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 139.
7. Charles Lamb, "On Some of the Old Actors," from Essays of Elia (1835), p. 149.
8. William Archer, "Twelfth Night at the Lyceum," Macmillan's Magazine, Vol. L, August 1884, pp. 271-9.
9. Archer, "Twelfth Night at the Lyceum."
10. William Archer, review of Twelfth Night in The Theatrical "World" of 1894 (1895), pp. 22-31.
11. George Bernard Shaw quoted in Shakespearean Criticism, Vol. 26, ed. Michael Magoulias (1995), p. 196.
12. George Odell, Shakespeare from Betterton to Irving, Vol. 2 (1921), p. 455.
13. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 143, quoting Elizabeth Story Donno's New Cambridge Shakespeare (2004), p. 31.
14. Michael Billington, "Twelfth Night: A Stage History," in Directors' Shakespeare: Approaches to "Twelfth Night" by Bill Alexander and others, ed. Michael Billington (1990), pp. ix-xxxi.
15. Billington, "Twelfth Night: A Stage History."
16. Harley Granville-Barker, Prefaces to Shakespeare, Vol. 6, p. 30.
17. Billington, "Twelfth Night: A Stage History."
18. Grenville Vernon, The Commonweal, Vol. 7, 6 December 1940.
19. T. C. Worsley, New Statesman and Nation, Vol. XL, No. 1029, 25 November 1950, pp. 498-500.
20. J. C. Trewin, Illustrated London News, Vol. 217, No. 5825, 9 December 1950, p. 962.
21. John Gielgud, An Actor and His Time (1979), p. 176.
22. Peter Fleming, Spectator, Vol. 194, No. 6617, 22 April 1955, p. 502.
23. Billington, "Twelfth Night: A Stage History."
24. Henry Hewes, Saturday Review, New York, Vol. XL, No. 29, 20 July 1957, p. 26.
25. Arnold Edinborough, "Canada's Permanent Elizabethan Theatre," Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. VIII, No. 4, Autumn 1957, pp. 511-14.
26. John Wain, Observer, 27 April 1958.
27. Alan Brien, Spectator, Vol. 200, No. 6775, 2 May 1958.
28. Peter Jackson, Plays and Players, Vol. 5, No. 9, June 1958, p. 13.
29. Robert Speaight, Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. XI, No. 4, Autumn 1960, pp. 449-51.
30. Shakespearean Criticism, Vol. 26, p. 199.
31. Billington, "Twelfth Night: A Stage History."
32. Billington, "Twelfth Night: A Stage History."
33. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 155.
34. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 155.
35. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 157.
36. Billington, "Twelfth Night: A Stage History."
37. Kenneth S. Rothwell, A History of Shakespeare on Screen: A Century of Film and Television (1999), p. 11.
38. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 160.
39. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 163.
40. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 161.
41. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 161.
42. Ford, Twelfth Night, p. 161.
43. Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of Poetry (1821).
44. Ralph Berry, Changing Styles in Shakespeare (1981).
45. Irving Wardle, London Times, 7 August 1970.
46. Hilary Spurling, Spectator, 30 August 1969.
47. Anne Barton, Twelfth Night RSC program note, 1969.
48. Berry, Changing Styles in Shakespeare.
49. Lois Potter, Twelfth Night: Text and Performance (1985).
50. Sheila Bannock, Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 29 August 1969.
51. Robert Speaight, Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 20, 1969.
52. Jeremy Kingston, Punch, 3 September 1969.
53. Wardle, The Times, 7 August 1970.
54. Michael Magoulias, ed., Shakespearean Criticism, Vol. 26 (1995).
55. James Fenton, London Sunday Times, 24 April 1983.
56. Magoulias, Shakespearean Criticism.
57. Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard, 26 May 1994.
58. Ian Judge, Twelfth Night RSC program note, 1994.
59. James Treadwell, Spectator, 6 December 1997.
60. Carole Woddis, What's On, 3 December 1997.
61. Janice Wardle, "Twelfth Night: 'One Face, One Voice, One Habit, and Two Persons!,' " in Talking Shakespeare, ed. Deborah Cartmell and Michael Scott (2001).
62. Michael Billington, Guardian, 27 November 1997.
63. Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 27 November 1997.
64. Judi Dench quoted by Wardle, "Twelfth Night."
65. Berry, Changing Styles in Shakespeare.
66. Bill Alexander, "A Director's View--A Personal Essay," in Twelfth Night, ed. Neil King, Longman Study Texts (1989).
67. Joseph H. Summers, RSC Twelfth Night program, 1969.
68. Alexander in King, Twelfth Night.
69. Elizabeth Schafer, "Twelfth Night," in Parson and Mason (eds.), Shakespeare in Performance, 1995.
70. Francois Laroque, Cahiers Elisabethains, No. 32, October 1987.
71. Alexander, "A Director's View."
72. Patrick Carnegy, Spectator, 14 May 2005.
73. Donald Sinden quoted in " 'There is no slander in an allowed fool': Comics, Clowns and Fools," in Judith Cook, Shakespeare's Players (1983).
74. Lisa Jardine, Twelfth Night RSC program note, 1994.
75. Jan Kott, Twelfth Night RSC program note, 1994.
76. Magoulias, Shakespearean Criticism.
77. Irving Wardle, London Times, 23 August 1974.
78. Michael Billington, Guardian, 23 August 1974.
79. Bernard Crick, Times Higher Educational Supplement, 14 March 1975.
80. Jane Lapotaire quoted in Judith Cook, Women in Shakespeare (1980).
81. Potter, Twelfth Night.
82. Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard, 11 May 2001.
83. Patrick Carnegy, Spectator, 19 May 2001.
84. Zoe Waites and Matilda Ziegler, "Viola and Olivia in Twelfth Night," in Players of Shakespeare 5, ed. Robert Smallwood (2003).
85. John Caird, interview with Michael Billington, Director's Shakespeare: Approaches to Twelfth Night (1990).
86. Terry Hands, interview with Billington, Approaches to Twelfth Night.
87. Michael Coveney, Financial Times, 6 February 1975.
88. John Caird, interview with Billington, Approaches to Twelfth Night.
89. Jan Kott, Shakespeare Our Contemporary (1964).
90. Potter, Twelfth Night.
91. Elizabeth Schafer, "Twelfth Night," in Shakespeare in Performance, ed. Keith Parsons and Pamela Mason (1995).
92. Carnegy, Spectator, 14 May 2005.
93. Nigel Hess, Twelfth Night RSC program note, 1994.
94. Peter Thomson, Shakespeare Survey, Vol. 28, 1975.
95. Thomson, Shakespeare Survey.
96. Barton, Twelfth Night RSC program note.
97. Wardle, "Twelfth Night."
98. W. E. Burghardt Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches (1903), chapter 7.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND
PICTURE CREDITS
Preparation of "Twelfth Night in Performance" was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded a term's research leave that enabled Jonathan Bate to work on "The Director's Cut."
Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest) and reproduction fees.
Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This Library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company's official archive. It is open to the public free of charge.
For more information see www.shakespeare.org.uk.
1. London Savoy Theatre, directed by Harley Granville-Barker (1912). Reproduced by permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 2. Directed by Bill Alexander (1987). Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 3. Directed by Peter Gill (1974). Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 4. Directed by Lindsay Posner (2001). Manuel Harlan (c) Royal Shakespeare Company 5. Directed by Michael Boyd (2005). Ellie Kurttz (c) Royal Shakespeare Company
6. Directed by Declan Donnellan (2006). Ellie Kurttz (c) Royal Shakespeare Company
7. Directed by Sam Mendes (2002) (c) Donald Cooper/photostage.co.uk
8. Directed by Neil Bartlett (2007). Hugo Glendinning (c) Royal Shakespeare Company 9. Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse (c) Charcoalblue
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Act 1 Scene 1
1.1 Location: Illyria (country on the east of the Adriatic Sea; now Croatia). The entire action takes place here, moving between the households of Duke Orsino and Olivia, with occasional scenes in undetermined public places
1.1 Orsino Italian for "bear-cub"; perhaps suggestive of immaturity 1.1 Curio either "curious" or "courtly" (from the Italian for "court"); may suggest fastidious affectation in dress and manners 2 surfeiting overindulging (in food or sex)
3 appetite hunger/sexual craving
4 dying fall dropping cadence (plays on the sense of "orgasm and detumescence") 5 sound i.e. of a breeze
9 quick and fresh sharp and eager, hungry
10 capacity (small) size/ability to contain
12 validity and pitch worth and utmost elevation
13 abatement diminution
14 shapes imaginary forms
14 fancy love/desire (plays on the sense of "imagination") 15 alone ... fantastical is uniquely imaginative/delusory 18 hart male deer (Orsino puns on "heart")
21 pestilence plague (often attributed to bad air)
23 fell fierce
23 hounds ... me as in the classical myth of Actaeon, hunted down by his own hounds as punishment for gazing on the naked goddess Diana Valentine the name of the patron saint of lovers 27 element sky
27 years' heat i.e. summers
28 ample full, i.e. unveiled
29 cloistress nun
31 eye-offending brine stinging, salty tears
31 season preserve (with salt)
36 golden shaft i.e. arrow of Cupid (god of love) 37 affections else other feelings
38 liver ... heart seats (thrones) of sexual passion, intellect, and emotion 39 supplied filled/satisfied
39 filled ... perfections her perfect qualities are filled 40 one self one and the same
Act 1 Scene 2
1.2 Viola Italian for "violet," a flower that symbolized faithfulness and was thought to purge melancholy; also suggestive of musical instrument 4 Elysium the heaven of classical mythology
5 Perchance perhaps (the Captain shifts the sense to "by chance") 8 chance the possibility of good fortune
11 driving storm-driven
12 provident foresighted/resourceful/fortunate
13 practice method
14 lived floated
15 Arion Greek musician who jumped overboard to escape being murdered and was carried to safety by a dolphin charmed by his music 16 hold acquaintance with remain afloat upon
19 unfoldeth ... hope encourages me to hope
21 like of him i.e. that he has also survived
30 late recently
32 murmur rumor
33 What ... of whatever the aristocracy do, the lower classes gossip about it 43 be ... is have my identity/rank revealed until I decide the time is ripe 46 compass bring about
47 suit petition/courtship
48 not not even
49 fair behaviour good conduct/promising appearance
50 though that though
51 close in enclose
52 suits With matches
53 character appearance
56 haply ... intent may suit the shape of the purpose 58 eunuch male castrated to maintain a high singing voice 61 allow prove
61 worth worthy of
62 hap happen, chance to occur
63 wit cunning plan
Twelfth Night Page 18