Twelfth Night [scenes]

Summary: BBC production of scenes from Twelfth Night.
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: Saturday 20 February 1937
Time: 9.10pm (15 mins)
Series: Scenes from Shakespeare
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

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