Twelfth Night

Summary

BBC transmission of a performance of Michel Saint-Denis’ current production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night directly from the Phoenix Theatre, London. This second attempt to broadcast a play from a theatre was considered by The Times to have been less successful than the first (J. B. Priestley’s When We Are Married): the play’s ‘lyric beauty deifes the vigilance of mechanical eyes which alter their range minute by minute’ (The Times, 3 January 1939, p. 8).

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

Monday 2 January 1939

Time

8.30-11.00pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Theatre Director

Michel Saint-Denis (1897-1971)

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Cast

Bronson Albery	(precise credit not known)
Peggy Ashcroft	Viola
George Devine
William Devlin (1911-1987)
George Hayes
Warren Jenkins
Esmond Knight	Orsino
Basil Langton
Vera Lindsay
Lucille Lisle
Michael Redgrave (1908-1985)

Additional details

Origination

Live from theatre

Vision original

Monochrome

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Print sources

Title

Broadcasting: Two Short Plays; Concert of Italian Music (Newspaper listing)

Reference

The Times, 2 January 1939, p. 23

Title

Entertainments: Television from a Theatre (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 3 January 1939, p. 8

Notes

With a b&w image of part of the stalls and stage during the performance

Title

From the theatre, 1938-1939 (Blog article)

Author/creator

John Wyver (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/from-the-theatre-1936-1939, published 27 September 2011

Title

In the beginning: Twelfth Night (BBC, 1939) (Blog article)

Author/creator

John Wyver (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/in-the-beginning-twelfth-night-bbc-1939, published 11 December 2011

Title

Radio Times, 30 December 1938 (Magazine)

Title

Television (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

E. H. R. (Reviewer)

Reference

The Observer, 8 January 1939, p. 21

Title

Television: From the Stalls (Magazine review)

Author/creator

Grace Wyndham Goldie (reviewer)

Reference

The Listener, 9 January 1939, p. 171

Title

Will before the war (Blog article)

Author/creator

John Wyver (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/will-before-the-war, published 23 June 2011