Twelfth Night or What You Will

At one time adaptors of Shakespeare for the cinema trended to concentrate more on his tragedies and history plays rather than his comedies. The 1990s, however, saw two very fine adaptations of Shakespearean comedies, Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado about Nothing" and Trevor Nunn's "Twelfth Night".

"Twelfth Night" is another name for the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th, and the action of the play is supposed to take place around that date. Nunn, however, did not shoot this film in winter but in autumn; filming actually took place in November, but the crew were mostly lucky with the weather and the look of the countryside might suggest late September or early October. Although the setting is still officially "Illyria", an old name for Croatia, Nunn effectively updates the action to Victorian England. The film was shot on location in Cornwall, with St Michael's Mount standing in for Orsino's palace and Lanhydrock for Olivia's mansion.

Unlike his contemporary Marlowe in "Edward II", Shakespeare never dealt directly with the subject of homosexuality, but "Twelfth Night" is perhaps the play in which he came closest to dealing with it by implication. The plot revolves around a curious love-triangle, A loves B, who loves C, who loves A. Orsino, Duke of Illyria, is in love with the beautiful countess Olivia. She, however, has no interest in Orsino, but has fallen for "Cesario", the handsome young man whom Orsino uses as his go-between. Unknown to both Orsino and Olivia, however, the supposed "Cesario" is really a disguised woman, Viola- who has fallen in love with her employer. An extra complication- and a possible solution to the problem- arises when Viola's identical twin brother Sebastian, whom she previously believed to be dead, arrives on the scene. (Yes, I know that in reality you cannot have identical opposite-sex twins, but Shakespearean comedies are not noted for their strict realism).

The lesbian overtones to the Olivia/Viola relationship would probably have been rather muted in Shakespeare's day when all female roles would have been played by boys, but here Helena Bonham-Carter and Imogen Stubbs (the director's wife) make the most of them. Even with the assistance of a quasi-military uniform and a false moustache, the lovely Imogen never looks particularly masculine, so there is an implication that Olivia has fallen for someone she consciously believes to be male but subconsciously knows to be female. The gay overtones to the relationship between Toby Stephens' Orsino and "Cesario", and to that between Sebastian and Antonio, the sea-captain who has befriended him, are perhaps even stronger. Certainly, Orsino's conversations with "Cesario" seem remarkably intimate if he really does believe his young companion to be male.

Along with the likes of "Much Ado…" and "As You Like It", "Twelfth Night" is sometimes described as a "joyous" comedy in contradistinction to more "problematic" comedies like "Measure for Measure" and "All's Well that Ends Well". It does, however, have its darker side; several characters, for example, have recently suffered bereavement, or believe themselves to have done so, and this production tends to stress the darkness underlying the play. The autumnal setting contributes to this feeling, as does the fact that most of the characters are seen dressed in black.

The dark overtones are particularly pronounced in the sub-plot involving Olivia's steward, Malvolio. He is sometimes played simply as a narrow- minded Puritan and his adversary Sir Toby as a jovial, lovable old man whose only concern is to have his "cakes and ale". For Nunn, however, matters are not so simple. Nigel Hawthorne's Malvolio- the one character for whom there is no happy ending- is an essentially tragic figure, a dignified and dedicated servant who is tricked into making a fool of himself by a gang of people who have taken an irrational dislike to him. His name is derived from the Italian for "ill will", yet its significance here may be that Malvolio is not so much the perpetrator of malice as the victim of the malice of others.

There is an excellent performance from Mel Smith, better known as a television comedian, as Sir Toby. Smith brings out both the nastiness and the sadness which lie at the heart of his character. Sir Toby is a man of wealth and noble family (he is Olivia's uncle) who has spent his whole life in feasting, drinking and womanising and who has a fondness for cruel practical jokes; besides his tricking of Malvolio he dupes his friend Andrew Aguecheek and "Cesario" into fighting a duel. (Both acquit themselves surprisingly well, given that one is really a woman and the other an arrant coward). Yet there is also an implied sadness about Smith's characterisation; Toby knows that his life has been a wasted one, but feels that it is too late to amend.

Besides Hawthorne and Smith there are too many good contributions to single them all out individually. I must, however, mention Stubbs, who is able to suggest both a male persona and the underlying woman, and Ben Kingsley as Olivia's jester Feste, whom he plays less as a clown than as a sardonic old philosopher, an eccentric but also a man gifted with penetrating insights into human life.

"Twelfth Night" is one of Shakespeare's best-known comedies, and like all well-known Shakespeare plays it has become very familiar in the theatre. A good director, however, whether in the theatre or on screen, will always be able to find something new to say about it, and that is what Nunn has done here. He and his cast have found new insights into this great play, enabling us to see it with new eyes. An excellent production. 9/10

As with most Shakespearian comedies, the plot is deeply implausible. However, the excellent Cornish locations at St Michael's Mount & Lanhyrock give a good sense of place and the winter setting (apart from the scene of apple picking!) comes across well - it really does look like an English winter, rather than a picture postcard snow-scene.

The play is cut down to a manageable length without losing the sense of it, The broad comedy aspects (Toby Belch et al) are thankfully limited.

The acting is well done by a cast of British stalwarts. Amazingly, Viola and Sebastian actually do look broadly alike.

This film is best viewed as an amusing light romantic comedy rather than a side-splitter.

This is, quite simply, the best production of a Shakespeare comedy ever filmed. The plot is delightfully absurd, the acting brilliant, the direction superb. It is the sort of comedy you can watch over and over again.

Trevor Nunn's beautifully photographed and acted, deftly written film is one of the most enjoyable adaptations of a Shakespeare play ever made. Helena Bonham Carter is pitch perfect as the beautiful Olivia, who in "deep mourning" for her dead brother, falls in love with Cesario (who happens to be a woman named Viola dressed up as a man, wonderfully played by Imogen Stubbs, the only actress I've ever seen able to create both a charming Viola and a totally believable Cesario), meanwhile Viola falls for the Duke of fictional Illyria (the exquisite Toby Stephens) who is desperately in love with the Lady Olivia. Meanwhile, Viola's lost twin brother (Steven Mackintosh of "Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets", excellent again here) winds up in Illyria and adds to the confusion. Wonderful, layered support comes from Ben Kingsley playing Feste, Olivia's fool. The only flaw, perhaps, is the few minutes before the conclusion when everything seems to be coated with a thick gloss of sugar; the film comes through this unscathed. Trevor Nunn comes through with an exquisite Shakespeare film adaptation (which is a do or die task). A great showcase for the heavenly cast featuring some of the best performances ever by Bonham Carter (save "Wings of the Dove"), Kingsley (in his best supporting turn ever), novice Stubbs, and Stephens. A very worthwhile effort. Rent it, you won't be let down.

In Illyria, Orsino (Toby Stephens), a nobleman, is saddened because he cannot have the love of Lady Olivia (Helena Bonham-Carter) who is mourning the loss of her brother. Meanwhile, twins Sebastian (Stephen Mackintosh) and Viola (Imogen Stubbs) both survive a terrible shipwreck off the coast, but each thinks the other has died. Viola takes the guise of a man and goes to work in the household of the nobleman, falling in love with Duke Orsino. Meanwhile Olivia is taken with Viola who calls herself Cesario. This is the premise of one of William Shakespeare's most appealing comedies, Twelfth Night: Or What You Will, updated from Elizabethan England to late 19th century and brought to life by director Trevor Nunn. It is one of the best interpretations of Shakespeare that I have seen on film.

Reminiscent of other Shakespearean cross-dressing comedies such as As You Like It, Twelfth Night is mostly about the ins and outs of romantic love but it is also about pride, "overweening ambition", disguises, and mistaken identities. The play contains some of Shakespeare's most memorable characters: Sir Toby Belch (Mel Smith), Olivia's drunken uncle, his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Richard E. Grant) who is also trying to court Olivia, Olivia's gentlewoman Maria (Imelda Staunton), Feste (Ben Kingsley), the house clown, and Malvolio (Nigel Hawthorne) the prudish steward. Nunn has assembled a cast that more than does justice to the play. Imogen Stubbs as Viola actually looks like a handsome young man and has a sense of purity and innocence that makes her instantly likable. Helena Bonham Carter brings warmth to the character of Olivia who like Orsino seems to be in love with the idea of love not the reality. Some have noticed a similarity between the character of Olivia and Queen Elizabeth and interestingly, Olivia is addressed by Feste as "madonna", the only time the word is used in all of Shakespeare, perhaps a wry comment about the myth of the Virgin Queen.

The main story involves a love triangle between Orsinio, Viola, and Olivia but the minor characters have more than ample time on stage. Malvolio is both a comic and a tragic figure, said to caricature Sir Christopher Hatton, a courtier, romantic pursuer of the Queen and rival of the Earl of Oxford. Hatton was so fawning Elizabeth called him her "sheep" or "mutton" and this allusion is present early in the play as Malvolio is called a "rascally sheep-biter", harking back to Hatton's letter assuring Elizabeth that "The sheep hath no tooth to bite while the Boar's (Oxford) tusk doth raze and tear." Malvolio is a puritan who rails against people having fun, a trait that earns him the enmity of Sir Toby and Maria. To strike back, Maria engineers a joke on Malvolio. She forges a love letter supposedly from Olivia telling him that if he wants her to notice him, he should dress in yellow stockings and crossed garters and, as he woos Olivia dressed in his strange attire, Malvolio cuts a ridiculous figure (incidentally this is the same costume worn by Henry VIII when he danced with Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth's mother, at a masked ball, before he had her beheaded for adultery).

While there are many great performances, the star for me is Ben Kingsley who is totally convincing as Feste, a fool but a knowing one who functions as an objective commentator of the scene around him, exuding an air of righteous superiority. His portrayal of the priest Sir Topas who interrogates Malvolio in a darkened room has overtones of the 1581 trial and execution of Edmund Campion, a Jesuit priest who was executed by the English government in 1581. In his speech of less than fifty words, which appears to resemble nothing but nonsense, there are no less than five phrases which refer directly to Edmund Campion and his 1580-81 mission to England.

Richard Desper has pointed out that the mock trial scene works as a parody of the government persecution of Catholic martyrs. "The playwright," he writes, "demonstrates for us a world turned upside down, with clowns passing themselves off as men of learning, while men of learning …are pressed to deny what they believe to be true to serve political ends." The ending is too delightful to give anything away but it reminded me of the Ingmar Bergman comedy Smiles of a Summer Night, where mismatched couples get together at a summer cottage to sort everything out. Malvolio is pitiable in trying to redeem a shred of dignity but we feel for him when he exits saying, "I shall be revenged on the whole pack of you". As he leaves, he is the only person suffering in a sea of happy faces, those on screen as well as those at home.