"If music be the food of love, play on. . . ". So begins this romantic comedy of mistaken identities and crossed signals. Duke Orsino loves Olivia. But Viola, dressed as the Duke's male servant Cesario, loves Orsino. And hapless Malvolio, tricked by Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, loves his mistress Olivia. Confusion reigns, and the stage is set for hilarity. The cast includes Niamh Cusack, Jonathan Firth, Amanda Root, and Julian Glover.
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From Amazon
One of Shakespeare's finest comedies, Twelfth Night, was written at the same time as Hamlet and Troilus and Cressida, and while it shares their fascination with sex, death and confused identities, its exuberant comedy and linguistic inventiveness rises above the introspection of these plays. Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are separated in a storm that washes them both up at different points on the shores of Illyria. Believing each other to be dead, both attempt to survive by using their wits. Viola cross-dresses and enters the service of the lovesick Orsino, in love with Olivia, an heiress in mourning for the loss of her brother. Orsino's saucy young page Cesario (Viola) soon falls in love with "his" master, who tells "him", "all is semblative a woman's part". Unfortunately, while Viola falls in love with Orsino, Olivia falls in love with her alter ego, Cesario, while also being pursued at the same time by her pompous servant Malvolio. Olivia's house is also turned upside down by the antics of her drunker uncle, Sir Toby Belch, and the whole crazy situation reaches boiling point when Sebastian reappears.
Despite the madcap plot, Twelfth Night remains one of Shakespeare's most complex and inventive comedies, fascinated with questions of cross-dressing, gender confusion, language and inversion, as well as retaining a darker edge to some of its laughter. --Jerry Brotton
From AudioFile
In this fully dramatized recording of Shakespeare's most musical play, director Clive Brill wisely designs an approach that emphasizes clarity. The complicated plot about the comic confusions resulting from ship-wrecked twins, physical and psychological disguises, and mis-matched lovers depends at times on visual humor. In spite of such built-in difficulties for audio presentation, the attentive listener can follow the permutations of the plot and its humor quite well in this production. The songs, however, consistently disappoint. They're hurried, seemingly more in an effort to get them over with than to have them add their own romantic and nostalgic flavor to the tone of the play. G.H. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Joel Marcus
Format:Audio Cassette
I agree with another reviewer that the Arkangel recording is vastly superior to the Caedmon one. Viola is the key to the whole play, and in the Caedmon recording she *declaims* her lines rather than *speaking* them. It's impossible to fall in love with her; you wonder how Olivia ever did so. Whereas the actress on the Arkangel recording speaks her lines with the requisite naturalness, wit, and passion. The only thing I found annoying about this recording was the incessant bird sound-effects when the scene was set outside. Couldn't the producers have been a bit more inventive?
By A Customer
Format:Audio Cassette
...this new Arkangel recording of Twelfth Night, part of a complete Shakespeare project, sets a new standard. The play's melancholy overtones, delicately poised between exhilarating comedy and quiet grief, reverberate in this marvellously fresh and up-to-date version. A Twelfth Night for the nineties and beyond! The compex action is communicated clearly and movingly, the language is spoken sweetly and smoothly; all the emotions come through as clearly as if one were watching a stage production. Thankyou Arkangel!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The new standard for the Bard on audio
Aug 21 1998
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio Cassette
...this new Arkangel recording of Twelfth Night, part of a complete Shakespeare project, sets a new standard. The play's melancholy overtones, delicately poised between exhilarating comedy and quiet grief, reverberate in this marvellously fresh and up-to-date version. A Twelfth Night for the nineties and beyond! The compex action is communicated clearly and movingly, the language is spoken sweetly and smoothly; all the emotions come through as clearly as if one were watching a stage production. Thankyou Arkangel!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great recording
April 7 2000
By Joel Marcus
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio Cassette
I agree with another reviewer that the Arkangel recording is vastly superior to the Caedmon one. Viola is the key to the whole play, and in the Caedmon recording she *declaims* her lines rather than *speaking* them. It's impossible to fall in love with her; you wonder how Olivia ever did so. Whereas the actress on the Arkangel recording speaks her lines with the requisite naturalness, wit, and passion. The only thing I found annoying about this recording was the incessant bird sound-effects when the scene was set outside. Couldn't the producers have been a bit more inventive?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
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