Home > Shakespearean Criticism > Twelfth Night (Vol. 26) - Background:

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BACKGROUND:

Barton's 1969-70 production took the course of providing what Gareth Lloyd Evans termed a "gravely lyrical interpretation of Shakespeare's work that derived from the text itself." Irving Wardle qualified his praise by stating "this is not the funniest or most inventive Twelfth Night I have seen; but I can remember no production that held all the comedy's elements in such harmony." For many critics, the focal point of the production was Emrys James's Feste, which Simon Gray declared "a theatrical triumph." Donald Sinden's Malvolio was similarly praised by the majority of commentators. Speaight noted that Sinden's handling of the role in the vein of high comedy left "the right bitterness in the mouth when the play's flight from realism might have seemed too precipitate." Critics further praised Judi Dench's Viola and the Scottish eccentricity of Barry Jackson's Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Most reviewers, however, faulted Lisa Harrow's Olivia as a...

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1. Introduction
2. Reviews And Retrospective Accounts Of Selected Productions
3. Production:
4. Background:
5. Commentary:
6. Production:
7. Background:
8. Commentary:
9. Production:
10. Background:
11. Commentary:
12. Production:
13. Background:
14. Commentary:
15. Production:
16. Background:
17. Commentary:
18. Production:
19. Background:
20. Commentary:
21. Production:
22. Comparisons And Overviews
23. Staging Issues
24. Further Reading
25. Copyright