Twelfth Night, or What You Will

This production has two major failings: first, and foremost, the tone is somber and the pacing is leaden (especially at the end). It is sometimes interesting but never funny--hardly a ringing endorsement of a comedy.

The bigger failing, though, is the whole production is constantly, and blatantly, artificial. The three groups of characters are racially segregated--Orsino and his court are black, Olivia and her court are white, and Viola/Sebastian are Indian. Why? Is the director exploring the theme that black men always want white women? Is Viola-as-Caesario having trouble fitting in in Orsino's court because she is the only non-black? Indians are always in need of assistance? All Indians look alike? The answer to all these is obviously no: there is absolutely no deeper meaning to the casting than the desire to do something different.

There are also many sequences of fast cuts, and flashbacks, that get in the way of the story.

The acting is decent, but lacking subtlety.

Definitely not the best Twelfth Night out there.

First, the acting in this production is excellent, with each actor finding new aspects of the characters in ways you wouldn't have thought of before. Second, the staging is novel and invigorating without being coy and silly in the way some modernized stagings of Shakespeare can be. The multi-ethnic casting adds another dimension of tension and sensuality to the story. If you are familiar with this play, what is intriguing is how this production renders all the lines faithfully, but the text becomes a melancholic, philosophical reflection on life and love--very sweet and moving without being cute. However, if you are watching this instead of reading Cliff Notes, yes, you'll probably have trouble writing your term paper. You will have to pay attention as much as you'd have to pay to actually reading the play. The only real criticism I'd make is that some attempts to be arty with the camera (and editing) don't always succeed.

I am not sure just what it is about TWELFTH NIGHT that makes it so difficult to mess up. Whether as movie or play, it's as close to a sure thing as Shakespeare ever wrote. I can't recall any production I have seen that didn't offer at least something worthwhile, and this new version--filmed probably for British or Scot television in 2003--boasts much more than that. Heavier on melancholy than most, it showcases a wonderful cast that's new to me (except for Parminder Nagra from "Bend It Like Beckham," Chiwetel Ejiofor from "Dirty Pretty Things" and Michael Maloney-- who makes a superb Malvolio).

Director Tim Supple (who also co-adapted) has set this in modern dress, and here the modern angle works terrifically well. Having the roles of Viola and Sebastian played by East Indians is also a smart move, adding a layer of Britain's colonial history to the mix. As well as I already know the play, I was often surprised at how Supple's visual choices uncovered new meaning to the script. And, as ever, the revealing of identities and mutual bonding at play's end moves us all over again. I think this sad and lovely version might be a good place for beginners to start--and confirmed 12th Night-lovers to continue their study.

A made-for-TV adaptation of William Shakespeare's play. Set in modern times with a multi-cultural theme, this is a rather sombre production of one of Shakespeare's comedies, bringing out the darker rather than the comic side of the characters. Sebastian and Viola are portrayed as asylum seekers, ship-wrecked and washed ashore on foreign island, each assuming that the other has drowned. Since they are identical twins, when Viola decides to pose as a man in order to find work it leads to all kinds of confusion including a love triangle involving the dignitaries of the land. Meanwhile amongst the servants and lower orders there is other mischief at work.

Normally, modern adaptations of Shakespeare tend to be clunky and forced; Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" and Michael Almereyda's "Hamlet" are perfect testament to this. Even Richard Loncraine's "Richard III" falls on dull devices trying to place the action of that play in the imagined setting of World War Two. Perhaps it is that the tragedies and histories do not lend themselves well to being updated or embellished (see Julie Taymore's "Titus") and would best be left as they are.

This adaptation of Twelfth Night, however, benefits greatly from the liberties Andrew Bannerman and Tim Supple take with it. Not only is the story better for the adaptation, but the songs are beautifully rendered and the acting and stage direction is superb.

Also incredible is how much they accomplished with so little. This is quite obviously a low budget television adaptation with only a dozen or so sets and very few frills, but what the producers and directors manage to achieve with so little is startling. Whatever Bannerman and Supple made this for could not have exceeded the cost of a luxury car, but the film is a far better ride.