Twelfth Night, or What You Will (1988) (TV)

Director:

Paul Kafno

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

William Shakespeare | Shakespeare | Based On Play

Cast

Frances Barber	...	Viola / Cesario
Christopher Hollis	...	Sebastian / Curio
Julian Gartside	...	Valentine
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tim Barker	...	Antonio / Sea Captain
Richard Briers	...	Malvolio
Caroline Langrishe	...	Olivia
Anton Lesser	...	Feste
Abigail McKern	...	Maria
Shaun Prendergast	...	Fabian
Christopher Ravenscroft	...	Orsino
James Saxon	...	Sir Toby Belch
James Simmons	...	Sir Andrew Aguecheek

Runtime:

155 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:U | Australia:G

Company:

Renaissance Theatre Company

Trivia:

The Shakespearean ballad performed by Feste - "Come Away Death" - borrows an adapted melody from Paul McCartney's song "Once Upon A Long Ago". McCartney graciously donated the melody of his song for Kenneth Branagh's original stage production of Twelfth Night, performed by the Renaissance Theatre Company, and allowed the melody to be used in the film version.

Disappointing

I was disappointed with this production. I do prefer traditional settings with Shakespeare; but aside from that, the performances were just not strong enough. Malvolio's cross-gartering & yellow stockings simply do not lend themselves to 19th century dress as depicted in this version. Shakespeare wrote the play around 1600 and at that time yellow stockings could be much more easily displayed. But in the rest of this play, as well as the later half of the 19th century when this versions is set, men including Malvolio were wearing full-length pants. It makes the cross-gartering & yellow stockings much more of a contrivance than it would in a traditional Shakespearean setting.

Part of what made this film disappointing was the weather that was displayed. It was dreary most of the time, if not snowing. This is a comedy and the setting should be light & cheery in comedies. I see that the setting was at Christmas, which is fine I guess, but the overall effect of the weather is to make the play seem more dreary than it should be.

The part of Olivia was done fairly well, but there were no really standout performances here. Viola simply gave an average performance. Aguecheek here should be much more effeminate. Sir Toby Belch should appear more drunk & slovenly most of the time. He appeared to me a little too dignified. Malvolio, being the object of much of the clownery, should be more indignant than he appears here. On his release, he stands motionless in silence for some minutes. Fabian seems almost sorry for him, instead of snickering as he might be.

All in all I found the performances to be fairly average. I have seen this play on stage several times and it was done significantly better every time than it was here. The acting was much more intense in the performances I have seen on stage than the acting in this version.