British Universities Film & Video Council

moving image and sound, knowledge and access

Twelfth Night and As You Like It

Synopsis
Documentary. Joely Richardson looks at Shakespeare’s women examining As You Like It and Twelfth Night covering issues such as cross dressing, twins, disguise, the nature of comedy and gender. The examination includes clips from:
TWELFTH NIGHT (1910) d. Charles Kent.
TWELFTH NIGHT (BBC, 1963) d. Michael Elliott.
TWELFTH NIGHT (ATV, 1969) d. John Sichel
TWELFTH NIGHT (BBC, 1980) d. John Gorrie.
TWELFTH NIGHT (1996) d. Trevor Nunn.

AS YOU LIKE IT (BBC, 1963). d. Michael Elliott.
AS YOU LIKE IT (BBC, 1978) d. Basil Coleman. (Helen Mirren talks about her role as Rosalind).
AS YOU LIKE IT (2007) d. Kenneth Branagh.
AS YOU LIKE IT (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, 2010. d. Sharrock).

Vanessa Redgrave talks to Joely Richardson about her celebrated roles of Viola and Rosalind and her love of Shakespeare and reads some passages. Tom Hollander and Adrian Lester speak briefly about Cheek By Jowl’s all-male production.

There are also scenes from a production of Twelfth Night at Dulwich College and a pantomine at Nottingham Playhouse with Helen Wilding as Prince Charming. Brief scene of a drag stand-up routine with Shakespeare references from Steve Coogan. A brief clip from The Comedy of Errors (BBC, 1964) d. Clifford Williams.

There are contributions from Jonathan Bate, Andrew Dickson, Marjorie Garber, Germaine Greer, Laura Maguire, Nick Hytner, Gill Perry, Abigail Rokison, Thea Sharrock, Stanley Wells.
Series
Shakespeare Uncovered
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Television
Technical information
Colour / Sound
Notes
The six episodes in this series are available as a 2-disc DVD from MovieMail and other retailers with the title PREFACES TO SHAKESPEARE. The DVD is catalogued separately on this database. The DVD is catalogued separately on this database. The series is also released on DVD (Region 1) by PBS and sold as a 2-DVD set with the MY SHAKESPEARE series under the general title of SHAKESPEARE UNCOVERED.
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
comedy; gender representation; pantomime; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); twins; women; Cross-dressing
Related items
Prefaces to Shakespeare

Online availability

URI
https://store.bbc.com/shakespeare-uncovered
Price
£1.89
Delivery
Download

Credits

Director
Janice Sutherland
Producer
Janice Sutherland
Contributor
Abigail Rokison; Adrian Lester; Andrew Dickson; Germaine Greer; Helen Mirren; Joely Richardson; Jonathan Bate; Marjorie Garber; Nicholas Hytner; Stanley Wells; Thea Sharrock; Tom Hollander; Vanessa Redgrave
Cast
Felicity Kendal 
Helen Mirren 
Imogen Stubbs 
Jade Williams 
Naomi Frederick 
Steve Coogan 
Vanessa Redgrave 

Production Company

Name

116 Films

Name

Blakeway Productions

Name

Thirteen/WNET

Archive

Name

BFI National Archive

Web
http://www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections/searching-access-collections/research-viewing-services External site opens in new window
Phone
020 7255 1444
Fax
020 7436 0165
Address
21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN
Name

Learning on Screen Off-Air Recording Back-up Service

Email
services@bufvc.ac.uk
Web
http://bufvc.ac.uk/tvandradio/offair External site opens in new window
Phone
020 7393 1514
Fax
020 7393 1555
Address
For Learning on Screen Members only
77 Wells Street
London
W1T 3QJ

Distributor

Name

BBC Store

Web
https://store.bbc.com/ External site opens in new window
Notes
NB. From May 2017 programmes are no longer available to buy on BBC Store. From November 1st 2017 the store will close completely and programmes bought from BBC Store will no longer be available to watch. Customers who have bought items from BBC Store will be contacted by email and refunded for their purchases either by full cash refund or Amazon video vouchers.

Online Retailer

Name

PBS Shop

Web
http://www.shoppbs.org External site opens in new window
View this record on the Shakespeare site for additional details

Record Stats

This record has been viewed 690 times.