Perspectives on "Twelfth Night" - Revision history

Mthatfalvi at 12:19, 22 June 2017

2017-06-22T12:19:12Z

Mthatfalvi at 12:17, 22 June 2017

2017-06-22T12:17:29Z

Mthatfalvi at 12:08, 22 June 2017

2017-06-22T12:08:35Z

Mthatfalvi at 12:04, 22 June 2017

2017-06-22T12:04:42Z

Mthatfalvi at 11:52, 22 June 2017

2017-06-22T11:52:45Z

Mthatfalvi at 11:52, 22 June 2017

2017-06-22T11:52:14Z

Mthatfalvi at 11:50, 22 June 2017

2017-06-22T11:50:35Z

Mthatfalvi: /* Original Performance */

2017-06-22T11:46:57Z

‎Original Performance

Mthatfalvi at 04:01, 22 June 2017

2017-06-22T04:01:07Z

Mthatfalvi at 04:00, 22 June 2017

2017-06-22T04:00:12Z

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 This play was first performed in January of 1601 on 'Twelfth-Night Eve' for Queen Elizabeth I and her court at Whitehall palace, according to J.W Draper, a professor of English at West Virginia University.<ref name = "tim"> Draper, J. W. (1950). Appendex A - Date, Season, and Time Analysis of The Play. In The 'Twelfth Night' of Shakespeare's Audience (pp. 257-261). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. </ref> It was ''"the Queen's Twelfth Night entertainment to regale 'the living Duke Orsino."''<ref name ="tim"/> Virgino Orsino was the Duke of Bracciano at the time of Queen Elizabeth I and she entertained him royally on the twelfth night. However, it is known that the Middle Temple was the place where Shakespeare wanted this play to be performed.<ref name = "mid"/> Twelfth Night at the Middle Temple opened in February 1602.
 <br><br>
-The set for the original play saw some parts taking place by the seashore, then in a nearby city. The city, according to J.W Draper, was supposed to be somewhere in Italy, and specifically, Venice & the Venetian colonies in Dalmatia.<ref name = "tom"> Draper, J. W. (1950). The Setting, Style, and Theme of 'Twelfth Night'. In The 'Twelfth Night' of Shakespeare's Audience (pp. 233-256). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. </ref> The dialogue of the play has some Italian wording but also Latin, French and Spanish. The suggestion about the setting and different combination of dialect is that Shakespeare wanted his play to reach across the globe and to be performed other places, not just England. The plot, dialogue and costume, however, was written in Elizabethan style. Shakespeare's original style for this play was comedic and dramatic. <br><br>
+The set for the original play saw some parts taking place by the seashore, then in a nearby city. The city, according to J.W Draper, was supposed to be somewhere in Italy, and specifically, Venice & the Venetian colonies in Dalmatia.<ref name = "tom"> Draper, J. W. (1950). The Setting, Style, and Theme of 'Twelfth Night'. In The 'Twelfth Night' of Shakespeare's Audience (pp. 233-256). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. </ref> The dialogue of the play has some Italian wording but also Latin, French and Spanish. The suggestion about the setting and different combination of dialect is that Shakespeare wanted his play to reach across the globe and to be performed other places, not just England. The plot, dialogue and costume, however, was written in Elizabethan style. The genre for Shakespeare's original performance was comedic and dramatic. <br><br>
 [[File:Edmund Blair Leighton - Olivia.jpg|300px|thumb|Olivia by Edmund Leighton (1888)]]
 ===Reviews===

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 |-
 ! scope="row" | Tone
-| comedic, dramatic || dramatic, dark comedy || realism, lighthearted || spoof || realism, balance of comedy and drama
+| inconclusive || dramatic, dark comedy || realism, lighthearted || spoof || realism, balance of comedy and drama
 |-
 ! scope="row" | Setting

@@ Line 131: / Line 131: @@
 |-
 ! scope="row" | Tone
-| inconclusive || dramatic, dark comedy || realism, lighthearted || spoof || realism, balance of comedy and drama
+| comedic, dramatic || dramatic, dark comedy || realism, lighthearted || spoof || realism, balance of comedy and drama
 |-
 ! scope="row" | Setting

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 =Summary=
 {| class="wikitable"
 |-

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 =Section 2: Deliverable=
 <br>
-Based on the research explained in the background, we created an idea & plan for our own personal interpretation of Shakespeare' s 'Twelfth Night'. The main things we focused on was the tone, setting, characters, and script for our interpretation.
+Based on the research explained in the background, we created an idea & plan for our own personal interpretation of Shakespeare' s 'Twelfth Night'. The main things we focused on were the tone, setting, characters, and script for our interpretation.
 <br><br>
 ==Tone==

@@ Line 98: / Line 98: @@
 ===Reviews===
 <br>
-According to a review from The Culture Whisper, ''"Twelfth Night is delightful and enchanting, even if it is not a transformative or revolutionary adaptation. More than anything, she (Emma Rice who was the artistic director) focuses on making Shakespeare highly entertaining, accessible, joyful and communal.''"  <ref name ="glrev">Macdonald, B. (2017). Twelfth Night, The Globe review. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.culturewhisper.com/r/theatre/summer_of_love_shakespeares_globe_twelfth_night_emma_rice_2017/8773 </ref> The review also talks about this Malivolio that ''"straddles the line beautifully between being endlessly obnoxious and equally loveable."'' <ref name ="glrev"/> <br><br>
+According to a review from The Culture Whisper, ''"Twelfth Night is delightful and enchanting, even if it is not a transformative or revolutionary adaptation. More than anything, she (Emma Rice who was the artistic director) focuses on making Shakespeare highly entertaining, accessible, joyful and communal.''"  <ref name ="glrev">Macdonald, B. (2017). Twelfth Night, The Globe review. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.culturewhisper.com/r/theatre/summer_of_love_shakespeares_globe_twelfth_night_emma_rice_2017/8773 </ref> The review also talked about the Malivolio character, that ''"straddles the line beautifully between being endlessly obnoxious and equally loveable."''<ref name ="glrev"/> <br><br>
 Another review said that this interpretation was ''"an absolute hoot...freely embellished and fulsomely overdone. ...clownish caricatures instead of credible characters."'' <ref>Trueman, M. (2017, May 25). Review: Twelfth Night (Shakespeare's Globe). Retrieved May 26, 2017, from http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/twelfth-night-shakespeares-globe-emma-rice_43684.html </ref>  The pop songs and humor made the play more fun than serious from this review's perspective. This review warns traditional Shakespeare fans that this is not a traditional performance.
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 ==Twentieth Century Performance==
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-According to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre production log, in 1983 the Royal Shakespeare Company, located in Shakespeare's hometown Stanford-upon-Avon, performed an interpretation of Twelfth Night. <ref>1960-2005 productions | Twelfth Night. (n.d.). Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.rsc.org.uk/twelfth-night/past-productions/1960-2005-productions </ref> The Director was John Caird and the set designer was Robin Don. A huge tree was positioned in the middle of the stage that reached to the top of the theater. Sand surrounded the tree and there was a black back drop. The lighting was designed by David Hersey to look like stars, a moon, dawn, and twilight. <ref name = "old"> Farmer, P. (1984). Theatre Journal, 36(1), 113-115. doi:10.2307/3207372 </ref> The performance was traditional with Elizabethan era costumes and style. The story was not portrayed as a happy comedy but a dramatic, dark one.  <br><br>
+According to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre production log, in 1983 the Royal Shakespeare Company, located in Shakespeare's hometown Stanford-upon-Avon, performed an interpretation of Twelfth Night.<ref>1960-2005 productions | Twelfth Night. (n.d.). Retrieved May 26, 2017, from https://www.rsc.org.uk/twelfth-night/past-productions/1960-2005-productions </ref> The Director was John Caird and the set designer was Robin Don. A huge tree was positioned in the middle of the stage that reached to the top of the theater. Sand surrounded the tree and there was a black back drop. The lighting was designed by David Hersey to look like stars, a moon, dawn, and twilight.<ref name = "old"> Farmer, P. (1984). Theatre Journal, 36(1), 113-115. doi:10.2307/3207372 </ref> The performance was in the traditional style with Elizabethan era costumes. The story was not portrayed as a happy comedy but a dramatic, dark one.  <br><br>
 <gallery mode = "packed" heights = 200px>
 File:Twelfthnightpic 1.jpg|Set for the 1983 Performance
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 ===Reviews===
 <br>
-Patrick Farmer, who reviewed three Royal Shakespeare Theatre plays done at that same time, found this interpretation the most satisfying. <ref name = "old"/> He thought that Malvolio was a comic force.  He found that the actors of the company were very versatile in their roles. <ref name = "old"/> <br><br>
+Patrick Farmer, who reviewed three Royal Shakespeare Theatre plays done at that same time, found this interpretation the most satisfying.<ref name = "old"/> He thought that Malvolio was a comic force and that the actors of the company were very versatile in their roles.<ref name = "old"/> <br><br>
-Another review from the Guardian in 1984 by Nicholas de Jongh said that ''"I (himself) cannot remember a Twelfth Night so steep in an atmosphere of autumnal rejection, or one which shows so graphically people wither under the strain of hopeless love."'' <ref> Gay, P. (2005). As she likes it: Shakespeares unruly women. London: Routledge. </ref>
+Another review from the Guardian, in 1984, by Nicholas de Jongh said that ''"I (himself) cannot remember a Twelfth Night so steep in an atmosphere of autumnal rejection, or one which shows so graphically people wither under the strain of hopeless love."''<ref> Gay, P. (2005). As she likes it: Shakespeares unruly women. London: Routledge. </ref>
 <br><br>
-Yet another review addresses the dark comedy and compares it to other performances. In this article from The Times, Irving Wardle writes ''Quite a deal of poison has been seeping into this play over the past few years, but John Caird's is the first I have seen that projects Twelfth Night as an all-out dark comedy. This is good news not only for jaded old spectators who have seen the piece too often. There is a limit to the amount of fun that can be extracted from the drinking scene and permutations of Malvolio's letter in a play that was never more than intermittently uproarious. And there is everything to be said for muting the comedy for once and giving full attention to the central matter of the illusions and frenzies of love.''"<ref> Irving Wardle, The Times, 21 April 1983 </ref><br><br>This play was put on more like the original interpretation then a more modern version. Overall, people seemed to like this interpretation a lot.
+Yet another review addresses the dark comedy and compares it to other performances. In this article, from The Times, Irving Wardle writes ''''Quite a deal of poison has been seeping into this play over the past few years, but John Caird's is the first I have seen that projects Twelfth Night as an all-out dark comedy. This is good news not only for jaded old spectators who have seen the piece too often. There is a limit to the amount of fun that can be extracted from the drinking scene and permutations of Malvolio's letter in a play that was never more than intermittently uproarious. And there is everything to be said for muting the comedy for once and giving full attention to the central matter of the illusions and frenzies of love.''"<ref> Irving Wardle, The Times, 21 April 1983 </ref><br><br>This play was put on more like the original interpretation then a more modern version. Overall, people seemed to like this interpretation a lot.
 <br><br>

@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 ==Original Performance==
 <br>
-This play was first performed in January of 1601 on 'Twelfth-Night Eve' for Queen Elizabeth I and her court at Whitehall palace according to J.W Draper, a professor of English at West Virginia University. <ref name = "tim"> Draper, J. W. (1950). Appendex A - Date, Season, and Time Analysis of The Play. In The 'Twelfth Night' of Shakespeare's Audience (pp. 257-261). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. </ref> It was "the Queen's Twelfth Night entertainment to regale 'the living Duke Orsino.'" <ref name ="tim"/> Virgino Orsino was the Duke of Bracciano at the time of Queen Elizabeth I and she entertained him royally on the twelfth night. However, it is known that the Middle Temple was the place where Shakespeare wanted this play to be performed. <ref name = "mid"/> Twelfth Night at the Middle Temple opened in February 1602. <br><br>
+This play was first performed in January of 1601 on 'Twelfth-Night Eve' for Queen Elizabeth I and her court at Whitehall palace, according to J.W Draper, a professor of English at West Virginia University.<ref name = "tim"> Draper, J. W. (1950). Appendex A - Date, Season, and Time Analysis of The Play. In The 'Twelfth Night' of Shakespeare's Audience (pp. 257-261). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. </ref> It was ''"the Queen's Twelfth Night entertainment to regale 'the living Duke Orsino."''<ref name ="tim"/> Virgino Orsino was the Duke of Bracciano at the time of Queen Elizabeth I and she entertained him royally on the twelfth night. However, it is known that the Middle Temple was the place where Shakespeare wanted this play to be performed.<ref name = "mid"/> Twelfth Night at the Middle Temple opened in February 1602.
 <br><br>
-The set for the original play saw some parts taking place by the seashore, then in the nearby city. The city, according to J.W Draper, was supposed to be somewhere in Italy, specifically Venice and the Venetian colonies in Dalmatia. <ref name = "tom"> Draper, J. W. (1950). The Setting, Style, and Theme of 'Twelfth Night'. In The 'Twelfth Night' of Shakespeare's Audience (pp. 233-256). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. </ref> The dialogue of the play has some Italian wording but also Latin, French and Spanish. The suggestion about the setting and different combination of dialect is that Shakespeare wanted his play to reach across the globe to be performed other places and for it to not just be done in England. The plot, dialogue and costume, however, was written in Elizabethan style. Shakespeare's original style for this play was comedic and dramatic. <br><br>
+The set for the original play saw some parts taking place by the seashore, then in a nearby city. The city, according to J.W Draper, was supposed to be somewhere in Italy, and specifically, Venice & the Venetian colonies in Dalmatia.<ref name = "tom"> Draper, J. W. (1950). The Setting, Style, and Theme of 'Twelfth Night'. In The 'Twelfth Night' of Shakespeare's Audience (pp. 233-256). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. </ref> The dialogue of the play has some Italian wording but also Latin, French and Spanish. The suggestion about the setting and different combination of dialect is that Shakespeare wanted his play to reach across the globe and to be performed other places, not just England. The plot, dialogue and costume, however, was written in Elizabethan style. Shakespeare's original style for this play was comedic and dramatic. <br><br>
 [[File:Edmund Blair Leighton - Olivia.jpg|300px|thumb|Olivia by Edmund Leighton (1888)]]
 ===Reviews===
 <br>
-John Manningham who say the performance at the Middle Temple in 1602 gives his mention of the play talking about Steward Malvolio and how the play was similar to the plays 'Commedy of Errors', 'Menechmi' by Plautus and 'Inganni'. <ref name = "org"> Manningham, J. (1968). Diary of John Manningham, of The Middle Temple, and of Bradbourne, Kent, Barrister-At-Law (Ser. 1) (J. Bruse, Ed.). Westminster: J.B Nichols and Sons.
+John Manningham, who saw the performance at the Middle Temple in 1602, gives mention to this play talking about Steward Malvolio and how the play was similar to the plays 'Commedy of Errors', 'Menechmi' by Plautus and 'Inganni'.<ref name = "org"> Manningham, J. (1968). Diary of John Manningham, of The Middle Temple, and of Bradbourne, Kent, Barrister-At-Law (Ser. 1) (J. Bruse, Ed.). Westminster: J.B Nichols and Sons.
 Facsimile reprint of 1868 ed. First published by Royal Historical Society, 1868. </ref>
-In further taking about the subplot of the play in his original writing,<br><br>
+In further, he talked about the subplot of the play in his original writing.<br><br>
-''"A good practise in it to make the Steward beleeve his Lady widdowe was in love with him, by counterfeyting a letter as from his Lady, in generall termes, telling him what shee liked best in him, and prescribing his gesture in smiling, his apparaile, &c., and then when he came to practise, making him beleeue they tooke him to be mad."'' <ref name = "org"/> <br><br>
+''"A good practise in it to make the Steward beleeve his Lady widdowe was in love with him, by counterfeyting a letter as from his Lady, in generall termes, telling him what shee liked best in him, and prescribing his gesture in smiling, his apparaile, &c., and then when he came to practise, making him beleeue they tooke him to be mad."''<ref name = "org"/> <br><br>
-According to a review on Bruce Smith's findings in John Manningham's Diary that ''"in this particular entry, and in those that surround it in the diary, Smith discerns seven subjects (or 'contexts' [6]) of continuing fascination to Manningham and presumably to others like him in the Middle Temple: Romance, Music, Sexuality, Clothing and Disguise, Household Economies, Puritan Probity, and Laughter and Clowning."''<ref> KO, Y. (2003). Early Theatre, 6(1), 101-104. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/43499184 </ref> Manningham and other playgoers at the time really enjoyed this original performance of "Twelfth Night'. It gave laughter and enjoyment to the people who saw it.
+According to a review on Bruce Smith's findings in John Manningham's Diary, that ''"in this particular entry, and in those that surround it in the diary, Smith discerns seven subjects (or 'contexts' [6]) of continuing fascination to Manningham and presumably to others like him in the Middle Temple: Romance, Music, Sexuality, Clothing and Disguise, Household Economies, Puritan Probity, and Laughter and Clowning."''<ref> KO, Y. (2003). Early Theatre, 6(1), 101-104. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/43499184 </ref> Manningham and other playgoers at the time really enjoyed this original performance of "Twelfth Night'. It gave laughter and enjoyment to the people who saw it.
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 <br><br>
-Finally, Shakespeare used his audience, venue and resources as an opportunity to develop his comedy. It is believed that "Twelfth Night" was written to be performed at the Middle Temple for the queen. Shakespeare includes comments by the charaters about their surroundings that describe the venue, breaking the fourth wall. The characters also comment on several occasions on the audience. One example of this is when Malvolio says, "I say, this house is as dark as ignorance" (Shakespeare IV. ii. 46-50). This would play with the audience as it would have been comprised by many of the elite and well educated. <ref  name = "mid">Akrigg, G. (1958). Twelfth Night at the Middle Temple. Shakespeare Quarterly, 9(3), 422-424. doi:10.2307/2867369</ref> Similarly, Shakespeare played with the fact that only men were allowed to act at the time. According to an article, written by Dr. Will Tosh on the inspiration of Twelfth Night, ''"Shakespeare’s plays were performed at a time when all of the actors were male, with teenage boys becoming the female roles. Shakespeare incorporated this convention into his plays, finding ways to turn what might be regarded as a disadvantage into a dramatic strength. In Twelfth Night, Viola isn’t just a girl dressing as a boy. She’s a boy playing a girl who pretends to be a boy, pursued by a boy playing a woman (Olivia) who ends up seducing a boy playing a boy (Sebastian). Part of the joke is that Viola-as-Caesario looks attractively feminine and irresistibly masculine depending on who is doing the looking: Orsino observes approvingly of his new pageboy’s appearance that ‘all is semblative a woman’s part’ (1.4.33), while Olivia compliments Viola on being ‘a proper man’ (3.1.125)".''<ref name = "plot"/> Shakespeare, through this inspiration, also seems to suggest that the theme of gender is something based on how you act, rather than something based on what you were born with, is another message he wanted to send through this play.
+Finally, Shakespeare used his audience, venue and resources as an opportunity to develop his comedy. It is believed that "Twelfth Night" was written to be performed at the Middle Temple for the queen. Shakespeare includes comments by the charaters about their surroundings that describe the venue, breaking the fourth wall. The characters also comment on several occasions on the audience. One example of this is when Malvolio says, "I say, this house is as dark as ignorance" (Shakespeare IV. ii. 46-50). This would play with the audience as it would have been comprised by many of the elite and well educated. <ref  name = "mid">Akrigg, G. (1958). Twelfth Night at the Middle Temple. Shakespeare Quarterly, 9(3), 422-424. doi:10.2307/2867369</ref> Similarly, Shakespeare played with the fact that only men were allowed to act at the time. According to an article, written by Dr. Will Tosh on the inspiration of Twelfth Night, ''"Shakespeare’s plays were performed at a time when all of the actors were male, with teenage boys becoming the female roles. Shakespeare incorporated this convention into his plays, finding ways to turn what might be regarded as a disadvantage into a dramatic strength. In Twelfth Night, Viola isn’t just a girl dressing as a boy. She’s a boy playing a girl who pretends to be a boy, pursued by a boy playing a woman (Olivia) who ends up seducing a boy playing a boy (Sebastian). Part of the joke is that Viola-as-Caesario looks attractively feminine and irresistibly masculine depending on who is doing the looking: Orsino observes approvingly of his new pageboy’s appearance that ‘all is semblative a woman’s part’ (1.4.33), while Olivia compliments Viola on being ‘a proper man’ (3.1.125)".''<ref name = "plot"/> Shakespeare, through this inspiration, also seems to suggest that the theme that gender is something based on how you act, rather than something based on what you were born with, is another message he wanted to send through this play.
 <br><br>