Twelfth Night
Twelfth
Night, or What You Will is a romantic
comedy by William Shakespeare,
believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on
the twins Viola
and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised
as Cesario) falls in love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with
Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her
thinking she is a man.
The
play expanded on the musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of the
occasion, with plot elements drawn from the short story "Of Apollonius and
Silla" by Barnabe Rich,
based on a story by Matteo
Bandello. The first recorded public
performance was on 2 February 1602, at Candlemas, the formal end of Christmastide in the year's calendar. The play was not published until
its inclusion in the 1623 First
Folio.
Characters
- Viola – a shipwrecked young woman who disguises herself as a page named Cesario
- Sebastian – Viola's twin brother
- Duke Orsino – Duke of Illyria
- Olivia – a wealthy countess
- Malvolio – steward in Olivia's household
- Maria – Olivia's gentlewoman
- Sir Toby Belch – Olivia's uncle
- Sir Andrew Aguecheek – a friend of Sir Toby
- Feste – Olivia's servant, a jester
- Fabian – a servant in Olivia's household
- Antonio – a sea captain and friend to Sebastian
- Valentine and Curio – gentlemen attending on the Duke
- A Servant of Olivia
- A Sea Captain – a friend to Viola
Synopsis
Viola
is shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria and she comes ashore with the help of a Captain. She has
lost contact with her twin brother, Sebastian, whom she believes to be drowned,
and with the aid of the Captain, she disguises herself as a young man under the
name Cesario and enters the service of Duke Orsino. Duke Orsino has convinced
himself that he is in love with Olivia, who is mourning the recent deaths of
her father and brother. She refuses to see entertainments, be in the company of
men, or accept love or marriage proposals from anyone, the Duke included, until
seven years have passed. Duke Orsino then uses 'Cesario' as an intermediary to
profess his passionate love before Olivia. Olivia, however, falls in love with
'Cesario', setting her at odds with her professed duty. In the meantime, Viola
has fallen in love with Duke Orsino, creating a love triangle: Viola loves Duke
Orsino, Duke Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Viola disguised as Cesario.
In
the comic subplot, several characters conspire to make Olivia's pompous
steward, Malvolio, believe that Olivia has fallen for him. This involves
Olivia's riotous uncle, Sir Toby Belch; another would-be suitor, a silly squire
named Sir Andrew Aguecheek; her servants Maria and Fabian; and her witty fool,
Feste. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew engage themselves in drinking and revelry, thus
disturbing the peace of Olivia's household until late into the night, prompting
Malvolio to chastise them. Sir Toby famously retorts, "Dost thou think,
because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" (Act
II, Scene III).
Sir
Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria plan revenge on Malvolio. They convince Malvolio
that Olivia is secretly in love with him by planting a love letter, written by
Maria in Olivia's handwriting. It asks Malvolio to wear yellow stockings cross-gartered—a
colour and fashion that Olivia actually hates—to be rude to the rest of the
servants, and to smile constantly in the presence of Olivia. Malvolio finds the
letter and reacts in surprised delight. He starts acting out the contents of
the letter to show Olivia his positive response. Olivia is shocked by the
changes in Malvolio and agreeing that he seems mad, leaves him to be cared for
by his tormentors. Pretending that Malvolio is insane, they lock him up in a
dark chamber. Feste visits him to mock his insanity, both disguised as a priest
and as himself.
Meanwhile,
Viola's twin, Sebastian, has been rescued by Antonio, a sea captain who
previously fought against Orsino, yet who accompanies Sebastian to Illyria,
despite the danger, because of his admiration for Sebastian. Sebastian's
appearance adds the confusion of mistaken identities to the comedy. Taking
Sebastian for 'Cesario', Olivia asks him to marry her, and they are secretly
married in a church. Finally, when 'Cesario' and Sebastian appear in the
presence of both Olivia and Orsino, there is more wonder and confusion at their
physical similarity. At this point, Viola reveals her identity and is reunited
with her twin brother.
The
play ends in a declaration of marriage between Duke Orsino and Viola, and it is
learned that Sir Toby has married Maria. Malvolio swears revenge on his
tormentors and stalks off, but Orsino sends Fabian to placate him.
Setting
Illyria, the exotic setting of Twelfth Night, is important
to the play's romantic atmosphere.
Illyria
was an ancient region of the Western Balkans whose coast (the eastern coast of
the Adriatic Sea which is the only part of ancient Illyria which is relevant to
the play) covered (from north to south) the coasts of modern-day Slovenia, Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro,
and Albania. It included the city-state of the Republic of Ragusa
which has been proposed as the setting.
Illyria
may have been suggested by the Roman comedy Menaechmi, the plot of which also involves twins who are mistaken for
each other. Illyria is also referred to as a site of pirates in Shakespeare's
earlier play, Henry VI, Part 2. The names of most of the characters
are Italian but some of the comic characters have English names. Oddly, the
"Illyrian" lady Olivia has an English uncle, Sir Toby Belch.
It
has been noted that the play's setting also has other English allusions such as
Viola's use of "Westward ho!", a typical cry of 16th century
London boatmen, and also Antonio's recommendation to Sebastian of "The
Elephant" as where it is best to lodge in Illyria (The Elephant
was a pub not far from the Globe Theatre).
Sources
The
play is believed to have drawn extensively on the Italian production Gl'ingannati (or The Deceived Ones), collectively written by the Accademia degli Intronati in 1531. It is conjectured that the name of its male lead,
Orsino, was suggested by Virginio Orsini,
Duke of Bracciano, an Italian nobleman who visited
London in the winter of 1600 to 1601.
Another
source story, "Of Apollonius and Silla", appeared in Barnabe
Riche's collection, Riche his Farewell
to Militarie Profession conteining verie pleasaunt discourses fit for a
peaceable tyme (1581), which in turn is derived from a story by Matteo
Bandello.
"Twelfth
Night" is a reference to the twelfth night after Christmas Day, called the
Eve of the Feast of Epiphany.
It was originally a Catholic holiday and therefore, like other Christian feast
days, an occasion for revelry. Servants often dressed up as their masters, men
as women and so forth. This history of festive ritual and Carnivalesque
reversal, based on the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia at the same time of
year (characterized by drunken revelry and inversion of the social order;
masters became slaves for a day, and vice versa), is the cultural origin of the
play's gender confusion-driven plot.
The
actual Elizabethan festival of Twelfth Night would involve the antics of a Lord
of Misrule, who before leaving his temporary
position of authority, would call for entertainment, songs and mummery; the play has been regarded as preserving this festive and
traditional atmosphere of licensed disorder. This leads to the general
inversion of the order of things, most notably gender roles. The embittered and
isolated Malvolio can be regarded as an adversary of festive enjoyment and
community, led by Sir Toby Belch, "the vice-regent spokesman for cakes and
ale" and his partner in a comic stock duo, the simple and constantly
exploited Sir Andrew Aguecheek.
Date and text
The
full title of the play is Twelfth Night, or What You Will. Subtitles
for plays were fashionable in the Elizabethan
era, and though some editors place The Merchant of Venice's alternative title, The Jew of
Venice, as a subtitle, this is the only Shakespearean play to bear one when
first published.
The
play was probably finished between 1600 and 1601, a period suggested by the
play's referencing of events that happened during that time. A law student,
John Manningham, who was studying in the Middle Temple in London, described the
performance on 2 February 1602 (Candlemas)
which took place in the hall of the Middle Temple at the formal end of
Christmastide in the year's calendar, and to which students were invited. This
was the first recorded public performance of the play. The play was not
published until its inclusion in the First
Folio in 1623.
Themes
Gender
Viola
is not alone among Shakespeare's cross-dressing heroines; in Shakespeare's
theatre, convention dictated that adolescent boys play the roles of female
characters, creating humour in the multiplicity of disguise found in a female
character who for a while pretended at masculinity. Her cross dressing enables
Viola to fulfil usually male roles, such as acting as a messenger between
Orsino and Olivia, as well as being Orsino's confidant. She does not, however,
use her disguise to enable her to intervene directly in the plot (unlike other
Shakespearean heroines such as Rosalind in As You Like It and Portia in The
Merchant of Venice), remaining someone who allows "Time" to
untangle the plot. Viola's persistence in transvestism through her betrothal in the final scene of the play often
engenders a discussion of the possibly homoerotic relationship between Viola and Orsino.
As
the very nature of Twelfth Night explores gender identity and sexual
attraction, having a male actor play Viola enhanced the impression of androgyny
and sexual ambiguity. Some modern scholars believe that Twelfth Night,
with the added confusion of male actors and Viola's deception, addresses gender
issues "with particular immediacy". They also accept that the
depiction of gender in Twelfth Night stems from the era's prevalent
scientific theory that females are simply imperfect males. This belief explains
the almost indistinguishable differences between the sexes reflected in the
casting and characters of Twelfth Night.
Metatheatre
At
Olivia's first meeting with "Cesario" (Viola) in I.V she asks her
"Are you a comedian?" (an Elizabethan term for "actor").
Viola's reply, "I am not that I play", epitomising her adoption of
the role of "Cesario" (Viola), is regarded as one of several
references to theatricality and "playing" within the play. The plot
against Malvolio revolves around these ideas, and Fabian remarks in Act III,
Scene iv: "If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an
improbable fiction". In Act IV, Scene ii, Feste (The Fool) plays both
parts in the "play" for Malvolio's benefit, alternating between adopting
the voice of the local curate,
Sir Topas, and his own voice. He finishes by likening himself to "the old
Vice" of English Morality plays. Other influences of the English folk
tradition can be seen in Feste's songs and dialogue, such as his final song in
Act V. The last line of this song, "And we'll strive to please you every
day", is a direct echo of similar lines from several English folk plays.
Performance history
During and just after Shakespeare's lifetime
Twelfth
Night or What You Will (to give the play its full title) was probably
commissioned for performance as part of the Twelfth Night celebrations held by
Queen Elizabeth I at Whitehall
Palace on 6 January 1601 to mark the end
of the embassy of the Italian diplomat, the Duke of Orsino. It was again
performed at Court on Easter Monday in 1618 and on Candlemas night in 1623.
The
earliest public performance took place at Middle Temple Hall,
one of the Inns of Court,
on 2 February (Candlemas night) in 1602 recorded in an entry in the diary of
the lawyer John Manningham,
who wrote:
At
our feast we had a play called "Twelve Night, or What You Will", much
like "The Comedy of Errors" or "Menaechmi"
in Plautus, but most like and near to that in Italian called "Inganni".
A good practice in it to make the steward believe his lady-widow was in love
with him, by counterfeiting a letter as from his lady, in general terms telling
him what she liked best in him and prescribing his gesture in smiling, his
apparel, etc. and then, when he came to practice, making him believe they took
him for mad.
Clearly,
Manningham enjoyed the Malvolio story most of all, and noted the play's
similarity with Shakespeare's earlier play, as well as its relationship with
one of its sources, the Inganni plays.
Restoration to 20th century
The
play was also one of the earliest Shakespearean works acted at the start of the
Restoration;
Sir William Davenant's
adaptation was staged in 1661, with Thomas
Betterton in the role of Sir Toby Belch. Samuel
Pepys thought it "a silly
play", but saw it three times anyway during the period of his diary on 11
September 1661, 6 January 1663, and 20 January 1669. Another adaptation, Love
Betray'd, or, The Agreeable Disappointment, was acted at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1703.
After
holding the stage only in the adaptations in the late 17th century and early
18th century, the original Shakespearean text of Twelfth Night was
revived in 1741, in a production at Drury Lane. In 1820 an operatic version by Frederic
Reynolds was staged, with music composed by Henry Bishop.
20th and 21st century
Influential
productions were staged in 1912, by Harley Granville-Barker, and in 1916, at the Old
Vic.
Lilian
Baylis reopened the long-dormant Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1931 with a notable production of the play starring Ralph
Richardson as Sir Toby and John
Gielgud as Malvolio. The Old
Vic Theatre was reopened in 1950 (after
suffering severe damage in the London
Blitz in 1941) with a memorable
production starring Peggy
Ashcroft as Viola. Gielgud directed a production at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre with Laurence
Olivier as Malvolio and Vivien
Leigh playing both Viola and Sebastian in
1955. The longest running Broadway production by far was Margaret
Webster's 1940 staging starring Maurice Evans
as Malvolio and Helen Hayes
as Viola. It ran for 129 performances, more than twice as long as any other Broadway production.
A
memorable production directed by Liviu
Ciulei at the Guthrie
Theater in Minneapolis, October–November
1984, was set in the context of an archetypal circus world, emphasising its
convivial, carnival
tone.
When
the play was first performed, all female parts were played by men or boys, but
it has been the practice for some centuries now to cast women or girls in the
female parts in all plays. The company of Shakespeare's
Globe, London, has produced many notable,
highly popular all-male performances, and a highlight of their 2002 season was Twelfth
Night, with the Globe's artistic director Mark
Rylance playing the part of Olivia. This
season was preceded, in February, by a performance of the play by the same
company at Middle Temple Hall, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the play's
première, at the same venue. The same production was revived in 2012–13 and
transferred to sell-out runs in the West
End and Broadway. Stephen Fry
played Malvolio. It ran in repertory with Richard III.
Interpretations
of the role of Viola have been given by many well-renowned actresses in the
latter half of the 20th century, and have been interpreted in the light of how
far they allow the audience to experience the transgressions of stereotypical
gender roles. This has sometimes correlated with how far productions of the
play go towards reaffirming a sense of unification, for example a 1947
production concentrated on showing a post-World War II community reuniting at
the end of the play, led by a robust hero/heroine in Viola, played by Beatrix
Lehmann, then 44 years old. The 1966 Royal Shakespeare Company production played on gender transgressions more obviously,
with Diana Rigg
as Viola showing much more physical attraction towards the duke than previously
seen, and the court in general being a more physically demonstrative place,
particularly between males. John Barton's
1969 production starred Donald
Sinden as Malvolio and Judi
Dench as Viola; their performances were
highly acclaimed and the production as a whole was commented on as showing a
dying society crumbling into decay.
Malvolio
is a popular character choice among stage actors; others who have taken the
part include Ian Holm
many times, Simon Russell Beale
(Donmar Warehouse, 2002), Richard
Cordery in 2005, Patrick
Stewart, in Chichester, in 2007, Derek
Jacobi (Donmar Warehouse) in 2009, Richard Wilson in 2009 and Stephen
Fry at the Globe in 2012.
In
March 2017, the Royal National Theatre's production of Twelfth Night changed some of the roles from male to
female, including Feste, Fabian (which became Fabia), and most notably,
Malvolio – which became Malvolia – played by Tamsin
Greig to largely positive reviews.As a
result, the production played with sexuality as well as gender.
In
2017/18, the Royal Shakespeare Company staged Twelfth Night, which was directed by
Christopher Luscombe. Adrian
Edmondson played Malvolio and Kara
Tointon played Olivia.
Adaptations
Stage
Musicals
Due
to its themes such as young women seeking independence in a "man's
world", "gender-bending" and "same-sex attraction"
(albeit in a roundabout way), there have been a number of re-workings for the
stage, particularly in musical theatre, among them Your
Own Thing (1968), Music
Is (1977), All Shook Up (2005), and Play
On!
(1997), the last two jukebox
musicals featuring the music of Elvis
Presley and Duke
Ellington, respectively. Another adaptation
is Illyria,
by composer Pete Mills.
(2002), which continues to perform regularly throughout the United States. In
2018, the Public Theatre
workshopped and premiered a musical adaptation of Twelfth Night with
original music by Shaina Taub,
who also played the role of Feste.
In 1999, the play was adapted as Epiphany by the Takarazuka
Revue, adding more overt commentary on
the role of theatre and actors, as well as gender as applied to the stage (made
more layered by the fact that all roles in this production were played by
women).
Plays
Theatre Grottesco, a Lecocq-inspired compay based out of Sante Fe, New Mexico, created
a modern version of the play from the point of view of the servants working for
Duke Orsino and Lady Olivia, entitled Grottesco's 12th Night
(2008). The adaptation takes a much deeper look at the issues of classism, and
society without leadership. In New York City, Turn to Flesh Productions(TTF), a theatre company that specializes in creating
"new Shakespeare shows" developed two plays focused on Malvolio: A Comedy of Heirors, or The Imposters by verse
playwright, Emily C. A. Snyder,
which imagined a disgraced Malvolio chasing down two pairs of female twins in
Syracuse and Ephesus, and Malvolio's Revenge by verse playwright, Duncan
Pflaster, a queer sequel to Twelfth Night.
Both plays were originally written for submission to the American Shakespeare Center's call for plays in conversation with the Bard through the Shakespeare's New Contemporaries program.
