The Adaptation Of Shakespeares Twelfth Night Production Film Studies Essay

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Nunn is known largely for his musical amusements, such as Cats, nevertheless he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company ( RSC ) in the sixtiess. Nunn referred to his dramatis personae as vastly experienced in classical work, as they were chosen due to their heritage movie experience every bit good as being long clip members of the RSC, such as Nigel Hawthorne ( Malvolio ) , Nicholas Farrell ( Antonio ) , and Ben Kingsley ( Feste ) . Imogen Stubbs, Helena Bonham Carter and Imelda Staunton besides have some experience in the National Theatre and the RSC[ 1 ]. The experient backgrounds of the histrions bring to the movie a authoritative Shakespearian staginess from their preparation. Unlike Baz Luhrmann 's Romeo and Juliet, which released in the same twelvemonth, slightly overshadowed the movie, Nunn did non experience the demand to utilize Hollywood stars to guarantee it was a box office success. He alternatively chose British histrions who understood dramatic constructions and could talk Shakespeare 's lines with lucidity.

The movie is set in the Victorian epoch, by conveying the text forward to the 19th century Nunn raises issues of the clip, giving a new dimension to the production.

Equally good as the issues in the original text such as gender and gender, Nunn besides raises modern-day issues such as the exposure of immature adult females every bit good as 19th century masculinism. By utilizing Victorian props such as a billiards tabular array, cigars and a croquet set Nunn reminds the spectator of his modern reading whilst at the same time unchanging Shakespeare 's drama.

Nunn is loyal to the original text, nevertheless adds parts to convey Shakespeare 's comedy to a modern audience, for illustration when Viola is seen to adhere her chests and set a sock down her pants in order to look masculine.

Nunn 's version of the Shakespeare classic has made me believe otherwise about the original text, peculiarly about the character of Feste who is played by Ben Kingsley. Kingsley was cardinal to the RSC 's plan of construing authoritative texts, and has appeared in other Shakespeare movies including A Midsummer Night 's Dream and Hamlet. Kingsley besides has a powerful filmic presence, holding the rubric function in Attenborough 's Gandhi, doing him a suited histrion to hold what in my sentiment is, the most of import function in the movie. When I read Twelfth Night I assumed Feste was intelligent due to his usage of word drama, for illustration when he is seeking to do Olivia expression like a sap for mourning her brother 's psyche being in Eden. However, I still viewed him as a sap, non as the cement keeping the drama together, as he appears to be in Nunn 's version. This reading gives the production a alone and gratifying feel as one gets the feeling there is something greater at work amongst all the confusion in the secret plan.

Unlike Shakespeare 's text which starts in Orsino 's tribunal, Nunn 's production starts on the ship before it sinks. It is when Viola ends up on the beach after the shipwreck that Feste is foremost presented to the spectator. We see him in a disorientating long shooting from the beach, where he is standing on the top of the towering drop. This sets up Feste as a slightly all-knowing character who has connexions with all the characters, this is apparent during Feste 's vocal. All the characters are in separate groups, Feste sings to Sir Toby in Olivia 's house, but the wordss are relevant to each character as Nunn cuts to Olivia in her bed, and to Viola who is with Orsino even though textually she is non in the scene. Feste appears to be at the Centre of the secret plan and sub secret plans, fall ining them all together. Feste ends the movie as he does in the text, nevertheless he repeats the concluding phrase 'every twenty-four hours ' and looks straight into the camera as if he knows it is a drama. This is the lone portion of the movie where a character addresses the spectator straight, the significance of this is that it shows Feste 's importance, demoing that he knows it is a movie and it was all supposed to delight the spectator.

Nunn uses camera angles such as the long shooting to Feste at the beginning to demo he is an perceiver of all the action and he knows what is traveling on. Nunn besides cuts between scenes so the spectator concentrates on the coveted character, which would hold been impossible in the original on phase productions. Nunn uses a camera under H2O to demo Sebastian and Viola urgently seeking to keep on to each other but finally being separated. Nunn uses this efficaciously to demo how the twins are parted, this is non in the text but is of import in the movie as it shows the love the siblings have for each other. Nunn cuts to a shooting of the ramping sea during Viola and Orsino 's exchange, utilizing the hapless false belief efficaciously to demo Viola 's despair and interior convulsion as she struggles to make her responsibility whilst being in love with her maestro.

Nigel Hawthorne 's Malvolio is precisely as one expects Shakespeare 's Puritan to be like. Hawthorne is absolutely suited in his function, and adds to the comedy of the movie wonderfully, for case when he visibly struggles to smile, as instructed in the missive he thinks is from Olivia. Hawthorne 's representation is extremely comedic when he walks have oning the xanthous cross gartered stockings ; his convincing public presentation is entertaining, yet besides credible. Hawthorne 's playing accomplishments are demonstrated as he switches from comedic to serious as he goes about inspecting the house and looking at people such as Feste in a patronising mode one would anticipate Malvolio to. Nunn cuts between scenes efficaciously uncovering Malvolio 's seeable defeat as he is seeking to read in his room, whilst Sir Toby is moving drunkenly downstairs. Cuting between scenes enables the spectator to see Hawthorne 's reactions, which would be hard to portray in the original phase public presentations of the drama, as one 's attending would be drawn to the drunken Sir Toby.

The movie 's good chosen dramatis personae makes the romantic comedy an gratifying movie to watch. Richard E. Grant 's Sir Andrew Aguecheek is performed precisely as I perceived him to be. Grant 's public presentation depicts accurately the sap in Shakespeare 's original text as he dances awfully and gets stuck in the croquet set. The latter is non in the original text, but it is a comedic add-on by Nunn utilizing props from the Victorian epoch to add to the character a folly which one associates with Sir Andrew. Equally, Mel Smith 's Sir Toby Belch is good performed as he acts drunkenly, bubbling for amusing consequence. Imogen Stubb 's portraiture of Viola is really good done as her playing is wholly convincing and slightly traveling when she cries one time reunited with her brother. Viola 's battle to move like a adult male is comedic at times, when she puts on a deep voice and uncomfortably looks around when Orsino is holding a bath. After watching the movie I saw Viola in a new manner, as a adult female fighting to get by in a universe of work forces. The gender issue apparent in the text was brought to the surface in Nunn 's production and I pitied the character, due to Stubb 's credible public presentation. Helena Bonham Carter played a convincing Olivia who was coquettish and despairing, merely as one would anticipate when reading Shakespeare 's original text.

Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, Nunn has smartly adapted the original text to alter it for a 1996 audience who enjoyed love narratives and comedies, adding parts and modernizing the drama to do the movie funnier for a modern twenty-four hours audience. In my sentiment the histrions suit their functions and present the Shakespearian linguistic communication cleanly so a 20th century audience is still engaged with the narrative, as a Shakespearian audience would hold been at the clip it was written. Camera angles and music are important to the movie, doing it more exciting than it would be on phase. The music is good suited to the movie as it builds up into a crescendo at exciting parts to reflect the gait of the action, and is besides slow and soft in romantic parts. The movie explores issues of gender, feminism and gender whilst being extremely entertaining and maintaining the authoritative Shakespearean text comparatively unchanged. In my sentiment, Nunn 's movie is a really successful version that is gratifying to watch, and suited for an audience of any epoch.

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