Twelfth Night

The straightforward paths of tradition and attention to textual detail may not always lead to striking originality, but they can, as in this case, beget an appropriately humorous and a nearly definitive version.

Filmed in and around an Elizabethan manor house, this production has the grace and authenticity of its setting.

Feste is so believable that he seems to have come with the house, not the acting company.

Felicity Kendall is reasonably boyish as Cesario, but attractive enough that we never lose sight of Viola.

Toby has enough heft and charm to pass as Falstaff's younger brother.

Malvolio is stuffy without becoming a caricature; Andrew is a dolt with touches of pathos; and Olivia is beautiful enough to excite the jealousy of any Viola.

Generally, this space gets lists of good points, lists of bad points, a few irrelevant personal details, and if we're lucky, the reviewer's pet's reaction.

Well, this video is as close to perfect as you could hope for. A strong cast without a weak link, excellent pacing, gratifying visual design.... What am I going to complain about?

Um...Sir Andrew Aguecheek didn't have to go up into falsetto quite so often.

Ah...the sound engineers had trouble keeping up with the shouts and murmurs; perhaps if they had lowered the shouts and raised the murmurs....

Oh, just go ahead and watch it. It doesn't get any better than this.

I've seen quite a bit of Shakespeare in my lifetime, but not as finely done as this one.

The definitive actress in this was Felicity Kendal... She played the twins parts elegantly and was incredible in her interpretation and presentation.

When I saw this, I promised myself I'd remember the name... It stuck with me... 7 years after this showing, I married... 10 years after viewing, the second "Felicity Kendal" was created and named...

If you haven't guessed, it's worth seeing. If anyone happens upon a tape of this or any other Felicity Kendal shows, feel free to contact me.

This movie was absolutely delightful. It was a lovely introduction to Shakespeare, for ( if I remember correctly at a distance of 20-something years ) the 12-or-13 year old that I was back then. ( I stayed up way past midnight so that I could see the end of it - it was lucky that I was on holiday at the time! )

The casting was excellent, especially the actors chosen to play Viola and Sebastian ( they looked like they were related! ), and Malvolio. The sets were well done, and the costuming ( again from the distance of too many years ) was good. The entire production was just charming.

I would dearly like to see this movie again, if anyone knows where to get a copy of it. ( Video or DVD )

This is one of the best of the BBC's productions, with fine performances all around. The production succeeds in conveying the melancholy aspects of the play as well as its many comic elements. (Although Trevor Peacock has only a moderately good singing voice, its plangency is perfectly suited to the rather dark songs that Feste intones.) I'll register only two minor complaints. First, there are a few inappositely articulated lines. For example, Robert Lindsay inaptly utters an exclamation as a question in III.iv.133, and Alec McCowen at III.iv.35-6 incorrectly addresses a riposte to Olivia that should have been addressed to Maria. Second, quite a few of Feste's lines have been excised. Some of the deletions are well-judged, but most of them (especially in III.i and V.i) are regrettable. Still, these two small points of dissatisfaction detract very little from my enjoyment of an excellent rendering of this play.

Alec McCowen is superbly well suited for the role of Malvolio, as he highlights the character's combination of comicalness, poignancy, and rebarbativeness. Robert Hardy is an outstanding Toby Belch, and Ronnie Stevens is equally good as Andrew Aguecheek. Trevor Peacock as Feste and Robert Lindsay as Fabian are splendid in their crucial supporting roles. As I've said above, my only regret about the performance by Peacock is that he was deprived of quite a few of his lines. Felicity Kendal lives up to one's expectations of her with a wonderful performance as Viola/Cesario, and Clive Arrindell (with whose work I have no other familiarity) is a fine Orsino. Everybody else in the cast likewise contributes admirably to this wonderful production.