Twelfth Night

Summary: 1950 BBC live studio production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, adapted for television by Robert Atkins.
Theatre play: Twelfth Night; or, What You Will by William Shakespeare [more information]
Play synopsis: A comedy in which Viola cross dresses, taking the man’s name of Cesario, and enters the service of Orsino, Duke of Illyria. Viola (Cesario) falls in love with Orsino, who longs for the love of a neighbouring countess. Her identical twin Sebastian arrives on the scene and he and Olivia fall in love and marry. Orsino realises that it is Viola that he loves and she agrees to marry him. In the end everyone, except the pompous steward Malvolio, is happy and Shakespeare speaks of the madness of love. The plot illustrates jealousy, mistaken identity, cross-dressing and features fights and duels.
Production history: Probably written in 1601. A performance of the play is dated to 1602. It was first printed in the Folio of 1623. (Source: Margaret Drabble, The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.)
Date of transmission: Friday 6 January 1950
Time: 8.45-10.30pm
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Harold Clayton

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Adapted for Television by

Robert Atkins (1886-1972)

Music

Eric Robinson

Sets / Settings

Barry Learoyd

Cast

Origination: Live from studio
Vision original: Monochrome
Later transmissions: Presented again as ‘a special performance for the children’ at 5.00pm on Sunday 15 January 1950.
Extant status: No archival copy is known to exist.

Title: Radio Times, 30 December 1949 (Magazine)
Linking notes: listing, p. 43; article by Lionel Hale, ‘Shakespeare’s Bejewelled Freshness’, p. 41

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