Twelfth Night; or, What You Will

Summary: 1980 BBC production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, presented in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. The production was preceded at 6.20pm by a 25-minute programme in which David Jones offered a personal view of the play.
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: Sunday 6 January 1980
Time: 7.20-9.30pm
Series: BBC Television Shakespeare
Channel: BBC2
Production company: BBC

Director

John Gorrie

Producer

Cedric Messina

Lighting

John Summers

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Designer

Don Taylor (1936-2003)

Costumes

Alun Hughes

Make-up Artist

Maureen Winslade

Script Editor

Alan Shallcross

Cast

Title: Twelfth Night (BBC, 1980)
Archive: BBC Information and Archives [more information]
Address
White City
London
UK
Telephone
+44 (0)20 8008 2288
Website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/
Access
BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

This record has been viewed 495 times.

British Universities Film & Video Council