Customer Reviews

Twelfth Night (Thames Shakespeare Collection)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This was originally a stage production, and it seems to have been "adapted" for TV by simply filming the actors on the single unchanging stage set and perhaps adding some fake snow. If you take it as such, it's not bad, but if you're expecting something along the lines of Branagh's "Henry V" or "Much Ado about Nothing", you may be disappointed. The Trevor Nunn version is much more cinematic and uses a gorgeous country manor house in Cornwall as the set.

My main problem with this production was the casting of two of the leads. Christopher Ravenscroft seems rather sheepish as Orsino, but much worse was Frances Barber (Viola/Cesario), whose facial expressions, as Dorothy Parker said of Katharine Hepburn, "ran the gamut of emotions from A to B." Moreover, Barber is so obviously female that it was impossible to muster the suspension of disbelief necessary to appreciate the emotional interplay between Viola and Olivia and Orsino.

On the other hand, Caroline Langrishe is "beauty truly blent" as Olivia, and maintains an appropriately regal bearing except when falling in love with Cesario/Sebastian. She is worth the price of the video by herself, but the low comedy actors are excellent as well, especially Abigail McKern as Maria, and Shaun Prendergast, who makes the tiny role of Fabian into a distinct and memorable character.

The text adheres faithfully to the First Folio, with only a few minor cuts. For some reason they left out the priest, which makes for a slight discontinuity in Act V.

The wintry setting is appealing (except for the Christmas tree and carol, which I found rather jarring). There are many amusing or enlightening bits of stage business, such as Fabian nimbly carrying the passed-out Feste offstage along with several bottles.

Patrick Doyle wrote the music (except for "Come Away, Death", whose melody is by Paul McCartney) and plays the piano offstage, accompanied by a horn, cello, and percussion. According to Branagh, this was Doyle's debut, and it shows -- the music for the songs doesn't seem to suit the text at all, and the main theme, though it seems intended to be dramatic, just sounds confused. Doyle did much better later with "Much Ado about Nothing." Anton Lesser as the Fool has a nice voice, but his intonation leaves something to be desired.

The DVD includes an interview with Kenneth Branagh, who gives a bit of information about the original stage production, but chiefly rambles on about the Jacobean subtext of the play. I would have appreciated some commentary by the actors, but I suppose after fifteen years they probably don't remember a great deal about it.

All in all, well worth watching, but if you haven't seen Twelfth Night before, you might want to start with the Trevor Nunn version instead.

This version of Twelfth Night is the best version I've ever seen, and so far, is only the second filmed version that follows the complete text of the play (the 1980 BBC version is the other).

This is the only film version that strongly emphasizes the issue of love and loneliness amidst a festive time of year, and allows the oft-abused gender-issue theme to dissipate into the background.

Branagh (courtesy of Shakespeare) brilliantly captures the other-world, eerie feeling of desolation and loneliness that comes with being sick in the heart and mind with hopeless love.

Set amid a wintry, dusty-white, snow garden backdrop, illuminated by dazzling, spectral blue lighting schemes, and later, pure, bright white lighting schemes, each scene emanates a beguiling, mysterious, other-worldly feeling that one feels while contemplatively walking alone through a forested/garden area on a midwinter's christmasesque day.

From the onset, we learn we are in the enchanted land of Illyria. The mythical stone statutes in the barren stone garden, the garish-gothic lighting, the melancholy rivulets of melodies, the foolish love-sick people, the foolish drunken people, all convey the feeling of a mystical Illyrian land filled with music, leisure, and hedonism.

But we quickly learn that beneath the enchantment, beneath the Christmas festivities, the foolish people are desparately isolated, alienated, and hopelessly full of burning, unrequited desires.

Present mirth hath present laughter,
What's to come is still unsure...

Anton Lesser steals the production as Feste, the lonely, wandering clown who sees all and knows all.

Caroline Langrishe shines as Olivia, expertly shifting between feigned innocence and deceptive intellect.

James Simmons, James Saxon, and of course the great Richard Briers delightfully lampoon themselves for our amusement, while diligently conveying to us the desolation of a life without romantic love.

Christopher Ravenscroft is hot (I had to say it that way) as Orsino, and buffoons himself just enough to make us simultaneously laugh at him and pity him. In one key scene, Ravenscroft/Orsino allows us to believe that he knows Cesario is a female, and makes the same allowance to a stunned, confused, and even scared Cesario. That scene alone makes this film worth buying. It epitomizes the theme of the duality of human nature (the masks we wear), a theme that Shakespeare employs ad infinitum.

Thanks Ken for finally getting this released on DVD.

One hoped with KB directing that this would have more energy. Perhaps the winter setting was part of the damper, although I liked the interesting twist that winter placed on some of the lines. This had the slightly slow, "stagey" feel that one expects from British productions, but not from Branagh. The music was not good. This was interesting to watch for anyone who likes Shakespeare and the comparison of different productions. The best on DVD/Video that I have seen is the one where Ben Kingsley plays Feste.

Twelfth Night is one of the Comedies, meaning a light piece intended to divert and amuse. The premise is simple enough: near-identical siblings, a youth and a maiden of noble birth, are shipwrecked and thanks to the actions of benign protectors end up unbeknownst to each other in the same foreign country Illyria, each thinking the other drowned.

Viola, the maiden, casting off her "woman's weeds" takes the guise of a young man and enters into service of the Count Orsino, who is attempting to woo his love-object the fair Olivia. Viola, in her guise as Cesario, is dispatched to press Orsino's cause. Instead, Olivia falls in love with Viola/Cesario while Viola/Cesario falls in love with her master Orsino. Meanwhile Sebastian, Viola's brother, slowly makes his way towards the love-triangle that is developing in his absence. A classic comedy of mistaken identity, in other words, with a plot-line that could be leaden and obvious to a fault.

But this play charms instead of grates because the comedic parts are so wonderfully portrayed. The jester Feste is perfect and Richard Briars gives a once-in-a-lifetime performance as the egregious Malvolio and accomplishes a minor miracle in causing us to feel real sympathy for him in the last act.

Of course this is old-world drama and anyone who expects the twin leads of Viola and Sebastian to resemble each other as near-identical will be grievously disappointed. This is, after all, theatre and entertainment. It was written to be performed in the afternoon to an audience rapt with the consumption of hot pies and with their attention straying to games of cards and dice. We are a long way from Hollywood here. So a viewer unaccustomed to Shakespeare or Ben Johnson or Kitt or Webster is likely to be unimpressed. Yet listen a moment to the words, to the lyric beauty that even after four hundred years can stir the soul, and suddenly it doesn't seem so silly that Olivia falls under the spell of Cesario's golden tongue. Set aside the desire for fast-paced action scenes and in a trice Malvolio's wretched loneliness and sense of grievance leaps to the fore and we acknowledge that his punishment exceeded his offence. In other words, allow yourself to experience this play as it was meant to be experienced, and the result is magical.

While not all the cast quits itself majestically, all performances are worthy and the over-arching effect is totally satisfying. We are not here for the sturm und drang of Othello or Hamlet or Macbeth; we are here for gentle sorrow and love requited in the end. Shakespeare takes a flimsy plot device and has crafted it into a vehicle for the tender exploration of loneliness, of personal isolation, and of redemption through love. For what it is, it is perfectly done and to be treasured like a fine old wine.

Although I liked the effects of the "blue" winter scene and the mood it set, after awhile it seemed to lack imagination, as if a wintery scene and blue lighting are the only ways to express desolation and loneliness in the heart. And yes, I know it's supposed to be January, but still...

I didn't think there was any energy at all in this production. I don't know if the actors felt they had to move slowly to avoid doing damage to the unsteady sets or what, but everyone, even the comic players, seemed to be creeping around so hesitantly. And they didn't have much voice behind their characters - it felt to me as if they were proclaiming their lines instead of making their parts live and move and breathe.

My belief could not be suspended high enough to believe that the glorious Olivia could be so smitten by the awkward, worried-looking Cesario. It was pitiful.

I found it unutterably dull and not even the happy ending could redeem it. I was really disappointed with this production. I expected so much more from it.

I'm surprised by some of the strongly negative reviews of this production. I'm not usually a big Kenneth Branagh fan, but this video of a stage production he directed is an extremely thoughtful, probing and moving realization of Shakepeare's play, perhaps one of the first plays for which the term "comedy-drama" seems appropriate. (Branagh didn't direct it for TV, but it is a filming of his production.)

It should be noted that the visual quality sometimes could be a little sharper. Also, it's a video of a stage production (though shot in a studio), and the set design is very stylized (and the design is generally in muted colors). So if you're looking for a Twelfth Night that looks like a movie, this is not it.

As with some of the other film and TV productions of this play, the order of the first two scenes is reversed. The production starts with images of a violent storm preceding the scene between Viola and the Captain, a smart touch.

When we move to the next scene (the first scene in the text), we see that Branagh is taking the title as a clue to the time of year in which to set the play. This is a wintertime Twelfth Night, and a Christmas tree appears prominently in some scenes. But this production is not full of Christmas cheer. It is a rather dark, world-weary and disturbing production of the play. Among other things, Branagh emphasizes the cruel and dangerous side of the various tricks, and the many references to death throughout the play also emerge strongly. If you're looking for a lighthearted production that emphasizes the comedy in the play, this is not it.

The acting is mostly on the naturalistic side, with an uncommon clarity to both the relationships and the language. This is a Shakespeare production in which everyone seems to be talking to each other rather than orating. Also, there is an unusual tension and sense of conflict in the playing of some scenes that are usually treated in a more offhand way.

There's one interesting, offbeat casting choice. Andrew Aguecheek (James Simmons) is tall and gangly, but he is also young, good-looking and less overtly buffoonish than usual, making you understand why Toby might regard him as a plausible suitor for Olivia.

Anton Lesser gives us a complex, self-loathing Feste. He is bitter and downright insolent and resentful toward those on whom he is dependent for money. Indeed, throughout the play I became aware as I had never been before of how much emphasis is placed on money, with the implication that it can corrupt and cheapen relationships.

Christopher Ravenscroft is a particularly neurotic, intense, manic-depressive Orsino, and it is this very oversensitivity that attracts Viola.

Caroline Langrishe's Olivia barely seems to be in mourning, an interesting choice. She is commanding, sophisticated, worldly, yet sensible and likeable. Christopher Hollis is a sensitive, vulnerable Sebastian, making you understand why Antonio wants to protect him, though he doesn't find the comedy in the role.

Abigail McKern is a tart, tough Maria. This is a woman you shouldn't cross, as Malvolio should have realized.

Richard Briers manages the trick that I've seen other Malvolios aim for and not quite achieve: he is both a comic and a tragic figure. Briers (helped by some of Branagh's directorial choices) is devastating in the final scene.

Holding it all together is Frances Barber's empathetic, charming Viola, possessed of an inner radiance that makes you understand why both Orsino and Olivia are drawn to her.

Branagh stages the final scene particularly well. "And the rain it raineth every day" has directorial touches that left me in tears.

There are some problems, starting with the sound. Most of the time it's fine, but in some scenes I kept having to adjust the volume. Also, the music (there's a good deal of underscoring) isn't always well-integrated, and "O Mistress Mine" doesn't work, though the other songs do.

In some of the later scenes, the acting loses its grip a bit. The production's biggest problem is one of tone in some of the later scenes that are traditionally treated as comic. The production has by this time established such a serious tone that the somewhat stagy comic playing of these scenes is jarring. Also, the scenes themselves are played partly seriously and partly comically, and the switches in tone don't work. I suspect these scenes worked better onstage with an audience than they do here.

Still, this is a singularly rewarding Twelfth Night. Very highly recommended.

This is where the Branagh/Shakespeare revelation began on screen. This is an excellent, wistful, adaptation of Twelfth Night/What You Will. Although it is a staged TV production, it is not a video of a staged play. A later version of Twelfth Night by Trevor Nunn uses bigger name actors and location filming, but this DVD showcases the wonderful language and verbal play of the text. Not only that, there are some beautiful musical passages used. Enjoyable from the first viewing, subsequent screenings yield even deeper understanding and pleasure from this mature comedy from the Bard.

Branagh, who is among the leading contemporary interpreters of Shakespeare, is often provocative, if not daring. His production of Twelfth Night is no exception. Some aspects are comfortably traditional. Olivia and Viola are witty and beautiful. Orsino is quite infatuated with love, and perhaps with Olivia. Sir Toby is a model of drunken revelry. Malvolio is a supremely irritating puritanical spoil-sport. However, in Feste, traditionally a lyrical, brooding, idiot savant, Branagh gives us an aging rock star, his voice less sweet, more like Bob Dylan croaking folk wisdom.

Beyond Feste, what makes Branagh's Twelfth Night unique is his decision to set this play about the heat of passionate love not in the Spring or Summer, but in a wintery snow-covered graveyard, literally twelve days after Christmas. (What immediately comes to mind is Branagh's equally bold decision to set his Hamlet in the dead of winter. How could Ophelia crack the ice when she fell in that flowery stream?)

The setting gives new meaning to Orsino's famous opening line, "That strain again, it had a dying fall," and it provides for graveyard humor - wine bottles hidden under tombstones. Branagh's vision takes shape in the snowy scenery like breath crystallizing in ice cold air. Much of the play explores lost or disappointed love. Shipwrecked siblings Viola and Sebastian each mourn the other's drowning. Orsino pines for Olivia, who can only grieve for her dead father and brother. Clueless Sir Andrew, while milked by drinking partner Sir Toby, looks in vain at Olivia for a rich bride. Viola, disguised as Cesario, secretly and hopelessly loves Orsino. Olivia, feeding on rejection, has a crush on Cesario. Antonio thinks he is betrayed by Sebastian. Only debauched Sir Toby, adored by scheming Maria, appears to have a curiously fulfilling relationship. The endlessly twisting plot delivers three happy engagements. However, the audience must wonder if they are firm, or like frozen breath will dissolve with the slightest breeze. Thankfully, brother and sister are reunited. A counterpoise to winter cheer, Branagh torments Malvolio so savagely, the audience must wonder if his rage can ever be soothed, despite Orsino's peacekeeping.

On balance, this worthy production yields more irony than fun. Branagh's choice of winter invites the audience to look past the madcap romance and to reflect on the underside of interlinked, love triangles. I wish he would give us more Shakespeare like this one.

I loved this play when I saw it at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA this spring, and I was looking forward to seeing different versions of it. I can't understand the reviewers who liked it--just about everything in it was lame. The actor who played Feste (complete with a mullet) should be banned from future Shakespeare productions for butchering such a great role. There was no chemistry between any of the characters and the delivery reminded me of students forced to read Shakespeare in class. After suffering through this, I got the Trevor Nunn/Ben Kingsley version--much, much better (though still not quite as good as the ASC version). Don't waste your time or money on this one. What was Branagh thinking?

This rendering of Shakespeare's play is neither a full-fledged movie nor a filmed theatrical performance. It is rather a quickly completed television production that reminds one of 1960's children's programs.

With the notable exception of the Victorian costumes that do succeed in making the infamous yellow stockings stand out, there are few original or creative elements that stand out.

A single tacky and unoriginal set is used throughout the play.

Silly elements such as the Christmas tree or the underground cave that serves as a jail fall flat and are just not funny.

Worse, some actors play for the camera whereas others project their voices as if they were on stage.

Sadly, this DVD can only be recommended to die-hard Branagh fans passionately interested in his career's evolution.