Friday, November 22, 2013

3.25 Twelfth Night (1601) in Full


Kenneth Branagh takes on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with the Renaissance Theatre Company. The exemplary cast includes Richard Briers as Malvolio, Frances Barber as Viola, Caroline Langrishe as Olivia, Christopher Ravenscroft as Orsino, and James Saxon as Sir Toby Belch. The original music for this production is by Paul McCartney and Pat Doyle.
Reference:  Kenneth Branagh's Twelfth Night.

Director John Gorrie interpreted the play as an English country house comedy, and incorporated influences ranging from Luigi Pirandello's Il Gioco delle Parti to ITV's Upstairs, Downstairs.  Gorrie also set the play during the English Civil War, hoping the use of cavaliers and roundheads would help focus the dramatisation of the conflict between festivity and Puritanism.  Gorrie wanted the episode to be as realistic as possible, and in designing Olivia's house, he made sure that the geography of the building was practical and made sense, and then shot the episode in such a way that the audience becomes aware of that geography, often shooting characters entering and existing doorways into rooms and corridors.
Reference: Twelfth Night, Or What You Will.

Full Theatrical Reading


Complete Text


Note. The numbers in the title refer to the play number (3.25) and publication year (1601), which Wikipedia noted based on the Oxford chronology.

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