«‘96

by Edward M. Moore,
Pro/essor oi English

The alternative title is whimsical; it
means “whatever you want to call it,”
and is an indication, I think, that
Shakespeare thought of the play as a
jeu d'esprit, not to be taken too
seriously tcl‘, the titles of other com-
edies this period: Much Ado About
Nothing, As You Like It)

It was first produced about 1600.
when Shakespeare had linished his
long involvement with English
historyﬁhe had Written at least nine
plays on the subyect~and was beginnr
ing to write his major tragedies:
Julius Caesar was probably produced
in 1599, the first version of Hamlet a
year later. But between 1595 and 1601,
Shakespeare also wrote [lve come
edies: A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Much Allo About Nothing, The Mer~
chant of Venice, ”(\velfth Night, and As
You Like it These years are
sometimes called the period or his

“golden comedies'

My own favorite of these comedies
is Tweltth Night, and i look forward to
the Grinnell Theater Deoartment's
production. (Twellth Night is
also one of the PBS television produc-
tions to be aired this winter.)

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a
golden comedy; the other four are not
so golden, True, they end happily as
comedy traditionally does, with mar»
riage, reconciliation, and a they-lived
happily-ever-aiter formula; but Much
Ado, Merchant of Venice, As You Like
It. and Twelfth Night all have discor-
dant elements in them. and these
elements tend to undermine the comic
structure.

In Tweliiii Night, the most promi
nent discordant element is Malvolio's
stomping oil the stage near the end of
the play, vowing, ”I‘ll be revenged on
the whole pack of you!” He cannot be
reconciled wiﬂi the others; he is a kill-
]Oy, and he has been made the butt of
a very funny scheme by Maria la lady
in waiting) and Sir Toby (a sort of
poor man's Falstaffibut
Shakespeare's poor men are very rich
characters); the latter sizes up
Malvolio in a very famous line: “Dost
thou think because thou art virtuous
there shall be no more cakes and
ale?" But the joke is taken too far
when he is imprisoned, and there is an
uneasiness at the end of the play: as
Olivia says, Malvolio has been ”most
notoriously abused."

The world oi the play is com-
ic—enormously lunny much oi the
time~but there is a strain of melan-
choly over the humor, in addition to
what I have called the discordant ele-
ment There is the episode which calls
iorth Viola's striking image oi

October )2, l9 79

umﬁ
Twelfth Night:

“Patience on a monument, Smiling at
grief,” but especially there is Feste,
the Clown (l). He is the Court Fool,
but is thoughtful, even sad, like the
fool in King Lear, not at all like
Dogberry in Much Ado, oi- Bottom in
Dream.

His songs are haunting throughout
the play, especially “Come away
death," near the middle, and the one
about the “Wind and the rain," which
ends the play,

But I have been talking about the
subepiot; the main plot is a
romanceiit calls tor a lot of suspen-
sion oi disbeliefia very complicated
affair of mistaken lovers: Duke Orsino
loves Olivia, who refuses to love him
but comes to love Viola (disguised as a
boy, Cesario), who loves Orsino. This
confusion is complicated by another
sub-plot centering around Viola's twin
brother, Sebastian.

Even it you do not know the play,
you should be able to figure out how
this situation is resolved: they are
matched properly at the end; comedy
dictates such resolution,

But there are some specialties in
Twelfth Night, The lovers are not
“starrcrossed” (to borrow a phrase
from Romeo and Juliet) as the lovers
in Dream are; they are not victims of
chance or external forces. They are
victims of their own self-delusion. Orr
sino is a parody of a lover; as has
often been said, he is not in love with
Olivia; he is in love with the idea of
being in love and has arbitrarily
chosen Olivia as his object

‘a delightful play’

Similarly, Olivia’s mourning for her‘
brother is pure, selfrdelusory sham.

It is this quality of the main plot
that links it to the sub-plot: Malvolio\
is made a fool of by his own ridiculous
pride and by his sell-delusion that
Olivia could love him.

But all is worked out happily in the
end (except for Malvolioibut he is a
Puritan, and the Elizabethan theater
had no use ior Puritans nor they ior
it~and, lord knows, the Puritans did
get their revenge later! ). As Sebastian
Says to Olivia near the end: “So
comes it, lady, you have been
mistook/But nature to her bias drew
in that."

A delightful playt i wish i were
teaching it this year!

photo by‘loet Aocb

Shakespearian oomeiiy
in twenties dress

by Rochet Stelier

William Shakespeare's romantic
comedy, Tweiiih Night, will be
presented by the Grinnell College
Theater Department on Oct, 12714 at
8:00 pm, in Roberts Theater

Ellen Mease, of the theater iaculty,
is the director of the play, with sea
designed by Jan Czechowski, also of
the theater staffr

The costumes, designed by Susan
Wood, are in the 192051talian style.
The reason for this, said Mease, is
because “the 19205 was a period of
romantic and classic dress and this
works well with the characters in the
play.” She added, “It is much cheaper
to find 19205 dress than it is to make
and design clothes in authentic
Elizabethan style.”

“The costuming works well with the
play," according to Paul Morris, who

plays the role of Sebastian, “The com~
fort of the 19105 dress makes it ea5ler
(or us to joke around."

Czechowski's set is an elegant
garden scene which combines classic
wood furniture and wicker to create a
simplistic background. which he feels
is “necessary for Shakespearean
drama."

The changes or mood and scene are
affected by the use of different
lighting techniques, coupled with an .
instrumental background. The music
tor the play was chosen by the chorus
and Judy Crawford to adapt to the

mood and style of the play.
The cast is enthusiastic about

Twellth Night. ”Ellen has brought us
forward in leaps and bounds, This past
week has congealed the play enough
so that the humor is renlly coming

(please tom the pagelll

 

