Twelfth Night; or, What You Will

Summary: BBC production of Casper Wrede and Michael Elliott’s production of Twelfth Night. The following year, telerecorded excerpts from this production were transmitted in a 25-minute programme entitled The Downfall of Malvolio in the For the Schools series (see Radio Times, 7 February 1958, p. 18).
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 10 March 1957
Time: 8.30pm (90 mins)
Series: Sunday-Night Theatre
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producers

Michael Elliott, Casper Wrede

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Composer

George Hall

Musical Arrangements by

George Hall

Musician

Desmond Dupré (lute)

Musician

Alec Whittaker (hautboy)

Designer

Stephen Taylor

Cast

Later transmissions: Telerecorded excerpts transmitted ‘For the Schools’ at 2.05-2.30pm on 14 February 1958.
Extant status: No archival copy is known to exist.

Title: Radio Times, 7 February 1958 (Magazine)
Linking notes: image and listing of a 1958 programme of telerecorded excerpts transmitted ‘For the Schools’, p. 18

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