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PRODUCTION:

John Caird • RSC • 1983-84

BACKGROUND:

Caird's 1983-84 production with the RSC was viewed by the majority of critics as the summation of the twentieth-century preoccupation with the play's melancholy. As Irving Wardle stated, "quite a deal of poison has been seeping into this play … but John Caird's production is the first I have seen that projects Twelfth Night as an all-out dark comedy." Set in the Jacobean period, the production accentuated a sense of decay and confinement by employing a ruined garden, rusting gates, and a mortuary chapel as components of the set designs. For many commentators, the strengths of this revival were the musical score of liona Sekacz and the performances of the principal actors. Nicholas Shrimpton hailed Gemma Jones's Maria as "the most original piece of characterization in the production … this was a high-spirited, horsey girl from a country background, now living in reduced circumstances as...

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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