Twelfth Night is a holiday celebration signifying the 12th Day of Christmas, the ending of the Christmas season, and as far as it being the title of this play…it doesn’t really make any sense at all. The events are not set on or around Twelfth Night. There isn’t some kind of nightly countdown to a twelfth. It’s just…there.
Scholars think the play got its name for the night of its first performance, and it does have the alternate title of What You Will, a title that is both perhaps more appropriate and more generic at the same time. Since this isn’t really all that generic a play, I think I can see why Twelfth Night stuck.
Notable cast members: None of the actors here jump out at me, save perhaps Alec McCowen as Malvolio. He was also the narrator in Henry V. So, this would be his second adaptation in a row.
Trivia: This adaptation, for whatever reason, was set during the English Civil War. That’s an interesting choice as, unlike most of the plays thus far set in contemporary or past time periods from Shakespeare’s own, that now we see this one set in Shakespeare’s future. The English Civil War, between the pro-Monarchy Cavaliers and the pro-Parliament Roundheads, broke out after Shakespeare’s death. The Roundheads, puritans all of them, won the war, put Oliver Cromwell in charge of the country, and outlawed theater until the monarchy returned not long after Cromwell’s death.
The play: OK, maybe setting it during the English Civil War isn’t such an odd choice when we consider the character of Malvolio. Though Shakespeare never quite calls him one, the character is often thought of as a puritan. He does have those sort of drab, anti-fun attitudes that fit the puritan character type, and while Shakespeare tried to keep his work as apolitical as possible, many of his contemporaries like Ben Jonson had absolutely no problem using puritans characters as a source of mockery, often portraying them as comedic antagonists. Malvolio does serve that purpose here. He’s the head servant for young wealthy widow Olivia, and he seems intent on basically making sure the other servants and various hangers-on don’t have as much fun as they want to. Considering fun for these guys is mostly drinking, singing, and playing pranks, well, you can see where all this goes.
That actually leads to an interesting question: does Malvolio deserve what happens to him? Because, quite frankly, he may not. The other servants, along with Olvia’s fun-loving uncle Sir Toby Belch, take it upon themselves to play a prank on the steward for stopping their fun, and it comes down at first to simply making him look foolish by making the man think Olivia is in love with him and wishing he would wear bright yellow socks with crossed black garters, along with the idea Malvolio needs to smile more when he usually doesn’t smile at all, and even be rude to the servants. That seems mild enough, but when Malvolio pushes his luck with Olivia, she thinks he’s gone mad and has the others care for him. They respond by locking him up in a dark cell for most of the rest of the play, even sending the fool character Feste down in disguise to give poor Malvolio some false hope of release. No wonder Malvolio’s last line is to swear revenge on all his tormentors. This is the closest Shakespeare came to mocking the Puritans who hated the theater, but he isn’t the main draw here.
That would be the usual romantic comedy stylings of Shakespeare. A young woman washes up on shore after a shipwreck. Viola is spunky and smart, and suspecting a woman making her way alone might lead to trouble, she dons the clothes that she believes belongs to her dead twin brother, takes a boy’s name, and heads into the nearest town, offering “his” services to lovesick Duke Orsino. Orsino wants to marry the young, wealthy widow, but she’s not interested in that depressing bore. Viola is, but Orsino thinks she’s a man, and so does everyone else in town. That means Olivia falls for the in-drag Viola, Viola loves Orsino, and Orsino still pines for Olivia.
Naturally, the only way to fix this is to have Viola’s twin brother Sebastian show up alive and well, and despite the fact a brother-sister pair of twins shouldn’t be identical, they apparently are. Sebastian can marry Olivia, so it is fortunate he seems to fall for her as quickly as Viola fell for Orsino. And with Olivia married, Orsino can end the play with Viola. Why not?
Now, I will say, this is one of those cases where the full “Bugs Bunny effect” has to work. Actress Felicity Kendal doesn’t look particularly masculine in men’s clothes. Mostly she looks like a woman wearing men’s clothing. If anything, maybe it’s a good thing Sebastian actor Michael Thomas has what looks like the same hair style. They don’t look that much alike.
On a final note, this play does feature a lot of singing from the character of Feste. I’ve always found Shakespeare’s songs to be a bit…weird to read because I have no idea what music plays along with them. So, it’s nice to see that actor Trevor Peacock has a wonderful singing voice. It fits in with this play, mostly set as a fairly quiet drawing room comedy, albeit one with a lot of iambic pentameter.
Grade: Twelfth Night is, along with As You Like It, seen as one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies, and for good reason. It’s a lot of fun, and it looks like everyone who isn’t Malvolio got a few kicks out of this one. A-
Next: Next up is what is commonly believed to be Shakespeare’s final play, the romantic comedy full of actual magic, The Tempest.
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