Twelfth Night is the most queer-centric Shakespearean play, and it is most appropriately titled. Traditionally, the last night of the Christmas season is celebrated with the inversion of societal norms, and Twelfth Night is nothing if not upside-down. If queerness is defined as anything outside the norm (and heteronormative), then queer style is defined as being excessive, "camp" and over-the-top, then hyperbole, ornament, and breaking clichés can be a means to expressing queer sexuality. Stanivukovic argues that the very language used in Twelfth Night texualizes and instatiates homerotic desire by using specific terminology and phrases that allow for open interpretation.
Normativity is constantly upended in this play: Feste the clown exists solely as a "corruptor of language," Viola compares her situation to a "knot" (a metaphor for entanglement and inability to distinguish things from everything else), Sir Toby and Sir Andrew conduct themselves as fools while Malvolio (a mere servant) acts like a Lord, and Orsino sends someone else to "woo" on his behalf. Olivia falls for a "boy" who is described as having lips "more smooth an rubious" than the goddess Diana's, a voice "as the maiden's organ," and "all is semblative a woman's part." Duke Orsino falls for the same "boy" and threatens to kill them rather than let a woman have them.
Is it possible that the main characters are not duped by this "boy" disguise? A director might try putting on Twelfth Night with that assumption, but the text doesn't really allow for that. These two--man and woman--love a person and their sex makes no difference (as we shall see at the end).
There's an ancient tradition of men partnering up with "boys" for the purpose of creating spiritual progeny (aka poetry/art) instead of physical children. The term "boy" does not usually refer to an age so much as a type or (submissive) role in the relationship, and "Platonic love" is what drives the creation. This partnership is often considered superior, and explains why historically, humankind holds up intellectual pursuits as the highest goal in civilization. Orsino may be openly pursuing Olivia throughout the play, but he finds himself quickly harboring deep feelings for his boy "Cesario" the more they chat about love's philosophy. It's no great leap to assume that if Olivia weren't in the picture, Orsino and "Cesario" would be Platonic lovers.
Olivia, upon meeting this effeminate "boy," is instantly intrigued both intellectually and physically. Where she was overly observant of her mourning duties to her brother when Orsino was at her door, she is full of fiery passion when "Cesario" arrives. Ladies appreciate feminine beauty as much as the next guy. An expert pair of actresses would play their "wooing" scenes with teasing comedic timing, and it would be even more entertaining if Viola found herself also quietly falling for Olivia, whom she herself describes as "beauty truly blent, whose red and white Nature's own sweet cunning hand laid on." Desire is not necessarily reliant on sexual dichotomies, and Twelfth Night offers a glimpse into a world where everyone can agree to that.
It opens with one of the most famous little speeches ever, delivered by Orsino, the perpetually lovesick Duke of Illyria:
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.
This is followed by his servant, Curio, asking about going on a hunt for a "hart" and Orsino hears it as "heart" and yes, he will go hunting for the "heart" of Olivia. I can just imagine Curio rolling his eyes. Valentine comes in to give Orsino a letter from Olivia's handmaid. Olivia will not step out until she has mourned her dead brother for seven years. Orsino waxes about if she can so deeply love a dead sibling, imagine how she will love a lover!
Meanwhile, Viola washes up on the sea shore or Illyria with some sailors and the captain of their ship. She hopes her bro, Sebastian, has not drowned. The Captain says that Orsino rules here, and that he might still be a bachelor, even though last he heard, he was seeking the hand of Olivia. Viola says she will pay the Captain to help her disguise herself as a eunuch and present her to Orsino as a servant, at least until she figures out her shit.
Sir Toby Belch (astutely named), Olivia's drunken uncle, is pissed off at her standoffish behavior, but Maria, Olivia's gentlewoman, says Toby needs to stop being so bawdy and pushing this fool Sir Andrew Aguecheek on Olivia. Toby admits that he keeps him around for his money even though he quarrels too much and might die an early death because of it. Sir Andrew arrives and the three of them exchange silly jests about drinking. Sir Andrew announces that he is to ride home the next day because Olivia will not be wooed, and Sir Toby proceeds to make sex jokes about prostitutes until he convinces him to stay a bit longer, you know, because that makes sense. Sir Andrew then shows off his dancing because why not?
Days later, "Cesario" (Viola's drag name) talks with Valentine about how well they've been accepted into the household. Orsino tells "Cesario" to go to Olivia and try to convince her to come out and be wooed already. "Cesario" asks how the F they should do that and Orsino says "Just tell her what I told you in your lovely uncracked voice." Viola is concerned that this may cause some trouble, as she (Viola) has already fallen in love with Orsino.
Maria interrogates Feste the Clown about where the F he has been and generally cracks about his foolishness, to which he says "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit!" Olivia enters with Malvolio, her dry steward, and orders Feste to fuck off. Feste inplies that Olivia is the fool and should be taken away:
Two faults, madonna, that drink and good counsel
will amend: for give the dry fool drink, then is
the fool not dry: bid the dishonest man mend
himself; if he mend, he is no longer dishonest; if
he cannot, let the botcher mend him. Any thing
that's mended is but patched: virtue that
transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that
amends is but patched with virtue. If that this
simple syllogism will serve, so; if it will not,
what remedy? As there is no true cuckold but
calamity, so beauty's a flower. The lady bade take
away the fool; therefore, I say again, take her away.
Olivia is 100% DONE with Feste and he adds "Cucullus non facit monachum (the cowl does not make the monk)," insisting that just because he wears "the motley" he is not a fool. She says "Prove it!" and he says that she is the fool because one should not mourn for someone they believe is in heaven. Malvolio is also 100% DONE with Feste and wonders at how Olivia deals with the clown on a regular basis.
Maria tells Olivia that a young man sent from Duke Orsino wishes to speak to her. Olivia does not wish to speak with them. Sir Toby comes in, burping as usual, and Olivia upbraids him for being drunk so early in the day. Sir Toby says there's some boy who wants to talk to her and Malvolio says they will not budge until they speak with her. She gives in and tells Maria to put a veil over her face so she can have a chat with this young thing. "Cesario" enters and they speak to the "veiled woman" who says she will speak for Olivia, but "Cesario" says they can only relay their message to the lady of the house. Olivia rolls her eyes and admits who she is so the message can be spoken. Olivia sends away her attendants and proceeds to make snide remarks about every line of Duke Orsino's message.
Viola does her best to make sure Olivia knows how beautiful she is, essentially shaming her for hiding away her beauty. Olivia shakes her head and says that despite Orsino's good standing, she cannot love him. "Cesario" leaves and Olivia admits to herself that this youth is quite a snack. She tells Malvolio to give the messenger a ring and the message to return to her the next day.
Back on the sea coast, Sebastian is rescued by Antonio, a sea captain. Sebastian apparently said his name was Rodorigo but he fesses up that he's actually Sebastian of Messaline (apparently his father is well-known, so this means something to Antonio). Antonio wants to be his servant but Sebastian says he'll only bring him bad luck and he's gonna head to Orsino's court. Antonio tags along even though he has enemies in Illyria. Like OK dude, your funeral then.
Malvolio accosts the disguised Viola and offers the ring that Olivia insists "Cesario" left with her and says they should come back the next day. Malvolio drops the ring and Viola shrugs and wonders aloud if Olivia has fallen in love with her.
Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness,
Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
How easy is it for the proper-false
In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
She contemplates this awkward love triangle and ultimately decides that time will "untangle this, not I, It is too hard a knot for me t' untie."
Late at night, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew stumble into Olivia's house, obviously back from carousing:
ANDREW: Nay, my troth, I know not: but I know, to be up
late is to be up late.
TOBY: A false conclusion: I hate it as an unfilled can.
To be up after midnight and to go to bed then, is
early: so that to go to bed after midnight is to go
to bed betimes.
LOL we've all had a night like that at some point. They are soon greeted by Feste and they talk up the clown's singing skillz. They each pay him sixpence for a love song. They applaud his performance and all start singing until Maria comes in and yells at them for disturbing the peace of the house. They badmouth Malvolio and Olivia and continue singing until Malvolio enters and scolds them for turning Olivia's home into an alehouse. He tells Toby that Olivia said he better shape up or he will have to leave. In response, they keep singing and tell Malvolio to lighten up. Malvolio tells Maria not to give them any wine and leaves as she calls him an ass. Maria tells the men that Malvolio is a moralizing puritan and she knows how to outwit him. They ask how and she says that she can forge Olivia's handwriting and write a letter admitting that she is in love with Malvolio. They can plant the letter where Malvolio will find it and watch his reaction. Toby and Andrew are all for it and Maria goes to do her deed while they go drink some more sack.
At the Duke's palace, Orsino asks for music to be played but Feste isn't around, so he sends for him to come play the song he likes. He and "Cesario" hang out and discuss love. "Cesario" admits that they are interested in someone older then themselves. Orsino says of men:
For, boy, however we do praise ourselves,
Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm,
More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn,
Than women's are...
Then let thy love be younger than thyself,
Or thy affection cannot hold the bent;
For women are as roses, whose fair flower
Being once display'd, doth fall that very hour.
That is some fanciful slut-shaming, tell you what.
Feste comes in and sings the song Orsino likes, and when he is done, Orsino pays him and sends him away. Orsino tells "Cesario" to return to Olivia and keep wooing her, but they refuse and ask the "hypothetical" question of what Orsino would do should another woman love him as much as he loves Olivia. He says no woman can love like he can:
There is no woman's sides
Can bide the beating of so strong a passion
As love doth give my heart; no woman's heart
So big, to hold so much; they lack retention
Alas, their love may be call'd appetite,
No motion of the liver, but the palate,
That suffer surfeit, cloyment and revolt;
But mine is all as hungry as the sea,
And can digest as much: make no compare
Between that love a woman can bear me
And that I owe Olivia.
I'm sure Viola is dying inside. "Cesario" says that they have a sister who loved a man, but in secret, and it was no less a love than Orsino claims he has:
She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek: she pined in thought,
And with a green and yellow melancholy
She sat like patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?
We men may say more, swear more: but indeed
Our shows are more than will; for still we prove
Much in our vows, but little in our love.
Orsino gives "Cesario" a jewel to bring to Olivia and sends them away.
In Olivia's garden, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Fabian (another servant) gossip about the trick they are about to play on Malvolio. Maria comes with the letter and says Malvolio is on his way. She throws it down and they hide. Malvolio considers how he can go about marrying Olivia to raise his social status and he daydreams about the day Sir Toby will bow to him and the silly conspirators balk at every sentence he says aloud. Malvolio imagines telling Toby to quit being a drunkard and stop hanging out with that foolish Andrew when he finally notices the letter. He begins reading it and has trouble at first trying to decipher the riddle within. This entire scene is full of clever puns that are lost on our ears now, but must have brought down the house in Shakespeare's day.
Malvolio keeps reading and we uncover some more Shakespearean wisdom:
but be not afraid of greatness: some
are born great, some achieve greatness, and some
have greatness thrust upon 'em.
The letter goes on to give him "advice" and do things that will surely make Olivia annoyed to death, like prating on about politics and wearing yellow stockings that are cross-garter'd. Malvolio is super excited by this and runs off to do just what the letter says. Toby loves this foolishness so much he says he "could marry this wench (i.e. Maria) for this device" but Andrew feels the same, and when she comes back they both fawn over her.
Viola finds Feste drumming away near Olivia's house and they have a friendly banter that's cousin to the Hamlet/gravedigger convo, during which Feste makes a reference to the tale of Troilus and Cressida (the next play on my list!). He also drops this nugget:
A sentence is
but a chev'ril glove to a good wit: how quickly the
wrong side may be turned outward!
Also, this little dig at marriage:
the Lady Olivia has no folly: she
will keep no fool, sir, till she be married; and
fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to
herrings; the husband's the bigger
I do like this Fool.
Viola considers the hard work that must go into being a "fool" for a living, and quite respects Feste:
This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, cheque at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practise
As full of labour as a wise man's art
For folly that he wisely shows is fit;
But wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit.
Sir Toby and Sir Andrew show up as well and try to intimidate "Cesario" into leaving but then Olivia comes and insists everyone leave but "Cesario." They have a chat during which Olivia makes very clear that she is smitten with "Cesario." She tries to keep her beau nearby but Viola drops subtle hints that she is not who Olivia thinks she is. Olivia insists that "Cesario" return her love: "Love sought is good, but given unsought is better."
"Cesario" leaves, saying no woman shall have their heart.
Sir Andrew tells Toby he might as well give up on Olivia because he just saw her fawning over this "Cesario" and he has no chance. Sir Toby says that Olivia does that only to spur Andrew's jealousy to fight for her. Toby suggests Andrew write a nasty letter to "Cesario" to scare them off. He leaves to do so and Fabian tells Toby that Andrew is just a puppet to him and Toby agrees. Maria comes in to report that Malvolio has indeed dressed in yellow stockings and cross garters and is smiling like an idiot.
Sebastian and Antonio arrive in town to see the sights but Antonio talks about how he is not welcome in Illyria due to a sea battle he was involved in against them. He gives Sebastian his purse and they agree to meet at the Elephant Inn later.
In Olivia's garden, Malvolio starts strutting his stuff in his ridiculous clothes. She asks if he is mad and he says the garters are too tight but if they look good, then it's worth it. He quotes the letter to her and she believes him even more mad. She tells Maria to get Toby to look after Malvolio as she leaves to greet "Cesario" again. Malvolio is excited at her every word, interpreting her meaning so that it makes him believe his dream is coming true. But when Toby, Fabian and Maria come to him, they treat him as they would someone who fell off their rocker. Malvolio turns his nose up at them and leaves. Toby says they will go after him and lock him up when Andrew comes back with his letter. They read it aloud and it proves very cautious in its threats. Maria says that Olivia is with "Cesario" now and they should go confront them. Andrew leaves and Toby tells Maria this letter is no good, so he will threaten "Cesario" himself to get some sport out of this situation.
Olivia and Viola enter and the others exit. Olivia gives "Cesario" a jewel and asks they come back tomorrow. "Cesario" says Olivia really should be heaping her love on their master Orsino instead but she'll have none of it and leaves. Toby and Fabian come to tell "Cesario" of the wrong they have done on Sir Andrew. Viola has no idea what they're talking about. Sir Toby warns "Cesario" of Andrew's rage and goes to retrieve Andrew. Fabian lies about how valorous and brave Andrew is as Toby brings Andrew over to confront them. Andrew certainly has no fight in him and neither does Viola, but they are bullied into fighting by Toby and Fabian. Just then, Antonio shows up and defends Viola, thinking her Sebastian. Some officers arrive at the scene and break up the quarrel, and when they try to take Antonio away for his past offenses, he gets angry that "Sebastian" doesn't give him his purse to bail him out. Antonio says he has rescued this youth and gets no gratitude for it:
But O how vile an idol proves this god
Thou hast, Sebastian, done good feature shame.
In nature there's no blemish but the mind;
None can be call'd deform'd but the unkind:
When she hears Sebastian's name, Viola suddenly realizes that her brother must be alive somewhere. Sir Toby and Fabian think this "Cesario" a coward for denying his friend in his time of need.
Feste finds Sebastian, thinking he is "Cesario" and bids him go to Olivia. Sebastian pays him to fuck off when Sir Andrew, Sir Toby, and Fabian arrive. Andrew hits Sebastian and Sebastian returns the favor. They argue and Sebastian draws his sword just when Olivia comes and calms everything down. She sends the men away and drags Sebastian to safety in her house. Upon seeing Olivia, Sebastian feels like he has stepped into a dream and he happily complies.
Maria convinces a generally benign Feste to dress as Sir Topas the curate before he goes to advise Malvolio, who is locked up in a dark room. I give him credit for not participating in this rather mean-hearted prank being played on Malvolio (who is a classic-stick-in-the-mud, but undeserving of such treatment in this upside-down world of festival wackiness). Maria brings Sir Toby to watch the fun. Feste speaks to Malvolio through a door and Malvolio begs for help from Olivia, insisting that he is not mad.
CLOWN: Madman, thou errest: I say, there is no darkness
but ignorance; in which thou art more puzzled than
the Egyptians in their fog.
MALVOLIO: I say, this house is as dark as ignorance, though
ignorance were as dark as hell; and I say, there
was never man thus abused. I am no more mad than you
are: make the trial of it in any constant question.
As soon as Sir Toby and Maria leave, Malvolio asks Feste for help by obtaining some light and some paper so he may write a letter.
Elsewhere, Sebastian admires the pearl Olivia gifted him. He wonders where Antonio is, and questions his reality, as things appear to be very strange. Olivia comes and leads Sebastian away with a Priest to get married post-haste.
Feste brings a letter (from Malvolio, presumably) to Duke Orsino's house and Fabian tries to read it, but the Duke and Viola and the rest of his gang enter first. The Duke asks how he is doing with his friends and Feste responds with his usual self-depricating humor:
Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me;
now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass: so that by
my foes, sir I profit in the knowledge of myself,
and by my friends, I am abused: so that,
conclusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives
make your two affirmatives why then, the worse for
my friends and the better for my foes.
And just like that, the Duke hands over some cash and Feste doubles down, gaining more for his skillz. The Duke says he'll gild his palm even more if he tells Olivia to come over. Just then, Antonio and some Officers show up and "Cesario" says he is the man who rescued them, but the Duke remembers him as an enemy to Illyria. Viola, knowing this man rescued her brother, defends him against the charges of the Officers. Antonio explains that he was washed up on shore and rescued "that most ingrateful boy" and put himself in danger for them and then refused to give his money back.
The Duke thinks the man is mad (who ISN'T mad at this point?). Olivia enters with her crew and says she is still not in love with Orsino. The Duke is so angry that he threatens to kill the man who has captured her heart. Fucking Viola shrugs and just says "Yeah sure, anything for my Duke." Olivia is appalled, since "Cesario" just made vows to her only a fucking scene ago. Much confusion reigns until the Priest comes and says he just married Olivia and "Cesario." The Duke gets pissed and says he never wants to see "Cesario" again.
Sir Andrew bursts in yelling about how "Cesario" had beaten up Sir Toby and himself and he points at Viola and accuses her and she's totally dumbfounded. Sir Toby and Feste arrive prattling on about what happened until Olivia sends them away. Sebastian finally enters, apologizing for harming Olivia's kinsmen. Everyone is agog at the appearance of two "Cesarios." Sebastian says he has no brother, so who the fuck is that other guy? They compare knowledge of each other's father's moles (eww) and then Viola finally reveals that she is a SHE goddamnit. The Duke, amazed, still refers to Viola as a boy (so clothes really do make a man?) and asks if everything they said before was true. She responds:
And all those sayings will I overswear;
And those swearings keep as true in soul
As doth that orbed continent the fire
That severs day from night.
The Duke wishes to see her in her "woman's weeds" and they send for the captain who rescued her, for he has kept her clothes (what, the Duke can't take her to Nordstrom?). Olivia sends for Malvolio and Feste brings the letter from him and begins to read it aloud as madly as he believes it should be. Olivia tells him to STFU and just have Fabian read the damn thing. Fabian reads it aloud, and Malvolio says he quits because he's been treated like shit.
The Duke proposes to Viola, then Malvolio comes and further berates the company for being such douchecanoes. He says the only reason he acted the way he did was that he found a letter written by Olivia. She peruses the letter and says Maria wrote it. Fabian confesses that he, Maria, and Sir Toby conspired to make Malvolio mad. Also, Sir Toby married Maria just now because he loved her jest so much. Olivia feels bad for Malvolio (it's about time!) and Malvolio just huffs, leaving them with "I'll be reveng'd on the whole pack of you."
The Duke, agreeing with Olivia, asks that Malvolio be pursued so that peace can be made. The Duke turns to Viola and still calls her "Cesario:"
For so you shall be, while you are a man;
But when in other habits you are seen,
Orsino's mistress and his fancy's queen.
Clearly, he doesn't give a hoot what gender he loves. How very progressive!
Everyone leaves except Feste, who sings a somewhat melancholy song about life:
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, etc.
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain, etc.
But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, etc.
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain, etc.
But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, etc.
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain, etc.
A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, etc.
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.
Twelfth Night (more aptly named What You Will) is a stewpot stuffed with aspects of every other comedy that Shakespeare penned before it. A little cross-dressing from As You Like It, a touch of mistaken identity from The Comedy of Errors, a soupçon of drunken antics from Merry Wives of Windsor (Sir Toby is sometimes likened to a poor man's Falstaff), and a mess of weddings from A Midsummer Night's Dream. For being held up as one of the highest of high comedies, it really hasn't been given enough filmic treatments.
The 1970 ITV version, despite laudable performances by Sir Alec Guinness as Malvolio and Ralph Richardson as Sir Toby Belch, amounts to little more than a faithful presentation of the text. It was interesting that Viola/Sebastian were played by the same actress (a choice that directly throws all the transvestitism and homoeroticism themes into sharp relief. So there's that, which is exciting for the 70s. I do wish it were more apt to utilize the quick-fire dialogue that this play obviously requires, but if it were any faster, someone going into it cold would never be able to follow its 400-year-old humor.
2006's ebulliently terrible teen comedy edition She's the Man is only useful in that it serves as a platform to raise this century's issues with brazen toxic masculinity in American culture. Watching it, I immediately concluded that the reason cross-dressing androgynous siblings is more patently absurd now than even in Shakespeare's day is that courtly fashion and decorum were not so starkly contrasted between the sexes, and desire did not rely so much on sexual polarity as it did on essential beauty manifested in either sex. In the original text, Olivia and Orsino both fall for the same body, a person, not a man or woman. Their perception of this person being a man has little to do with their desire, for clearly, they give little to no shits at the end when Viola is revealed to be a woman.
Other than sticking to the basic sister-disguised-as-brother plot device, She's the Man contains only sprinklings of references to the original characters and settings: a boarding school called Illyria, a restaurant called Cesario's, a pet tarantula named Malvolio. The "Feste" character is egregiously underutilized as a comedic foil, and none of the characters contain even an ounce of likability embodied by the teens in Ten Things I Hate About You. "Duke," played by a textbook high school meathead figure (a young Channing Tatum) shows no desire for Viola (Amanda Bynes) in drag, unlike his textual character, eliminating the male homoerotic overtones. It does this while of course keeping the female ones (Viola, in the guise of her brother, manages to attract Olivia just fine), since lesbian desire is far more titillating in our modern era's male-gaze-centric film tradition than a gay one. The irony here being that there are plenty of gay viewers who are happy to see Tatum's frequent shirtlessness.
Here's metal more attractive! The legendary stage director Trevor Nunn brought his 1996 Twelfth Night onscreen in grand style. Starring his wife Imogen (a Shakespearean name from Cymbeline no less!) as the infatuated and disguised Viola, Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia, and Sir Ben Kingsley as Feste. Released the same year as Sir Ken's Hamlet, it also stars my favorite Horatio, Nicholas Farrell, as Antonio. This one is a mirthful adaptation, better showcasing the fun-loving goofballs who populate this story and serve to remind us that though we aspire to virtue, there are still cakes and ale to be had. Kingsley was a fitting Feste, bringing the perfect mixture of wit, melancholy, and merriment to the character. And quite a good singer as well!
The rocky coastal location of Cornwall serves as the vaguely otherworldly Illyria. Having visited the very ends of England's earth myself, I can attest that the foggy beaches and gardens are an inspired choice for filming this idiosyncratic story.
It comes as no surprise that this one was expertly crafted, bringing Shakespeare to life with charm and confidence, most remarkably due to a well-edited screenplay that surgically excises the dated outward flourishes without sacrificing the humor. It's definitely a keeper!
Next, we shall dive into a "problem play," so-called because it escapes being shoehorned into a standard category. I suppose it is tragical-comedical-romantical-historical? Nonetheless, Troilus and Cressida really deserves more renown. It's crammed with Greek and Trojan heroes (Achilles, Ulysses, Hector, Priam, anyone?) and it's set during the Trojan war over goddamn Helen! Classic, by the very definition. This will be fun!
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