Shakespeare’s romantic comedy Twelfth Night focuses on the confusion and problems that can arise when there is not an equal sign between appearances and reality. The play has its classic splash of Shakespearean romance, but with the special dash of uncertainty and mystery that is the highlight and speciality of this play. Thanks to this rather unique play, Trevor Nunn has gone to far efforts to try and implement as much of this quirk into his film adaptation as possible. Nunn has chosen to fast-forward the time setting of the adaptation, from early 17th century Shakespearean-period, to the 1890’s in a central European country at war. This decision, along with many others gave the adaptation some uniqueness and differentiation from the original play, but all at the same time, preserving much of Shakespeare’s original intent and themes.1
FILM ADAPTATION OF TEXT
The plot of Nunn’s adaptation is kept almost identical to Shakespeare’s play, and like most other productions of plays, there is some modification of the original play script in the final production, however Nunn keeps most of the lines intact and only shuffling around the order of events to either keep it more relevant to the time and audience, or to utilise some techniques that can only be done in film (more on this later). He is faithful to the original play’s integrity, structure and content — and only having subtle additions that only enhance the film.
The original plot of Twelfth Night involves a pair of close twins; Viola (Imogen Stubbs) and Sebastian (Steven Mackintosh) being involved in a shipwreck and separated from each other. Viola makes it to shore with the ship’s captain and after hearing of the Duke, she embarks on a mission to win his love. To accomplish this, she dresses up in a man’s attire to disguise herself as one of the Duke’s — Orsino’s (Toby Stephens) men and referred to as Cesario. He/she is tasked with wooing the countess of the country: Olivia (Helena Bonham Carter). However, during his task, Olivia falls in love with Cesario. Also, Sir Andrew Aguecheek — One of Olivia’s suitors (Richard Grant), Sir Toby Belch — Olivia’s uncle (Mel Smith) and Maria — Olivia’s gentlewoman (Imelda Staunton) decide to trick Olivia’s steward — Malvolio (Nigel Hawthorne) for giving them a hard time. Eventually, Malvolio gets locked up for being strange (part of their trick). In the end, Sebastian reunites with Viola and she reveals her true identity.2
CHANGES AND MODIFICATIONS
Although Nunn keeps most of Shakespeare’s original play content and themes, there were some meaningful changes that were made to make the film more interesting.
Firstly, a major addition to the beginning of the film showed Viola and Sebastian aboard their ship and the actual shipwreck scene itself. The opening of the film shows a ship in rough waters and a fierce storm. Inside the ship, Viola and Sebastian performing a cabaret and dressed as harem girls and looking identical. At the end of their performance, they lift the veils and reveal themselves. At this point, the ship strikes some rocks and goes out of control. Viola and Sebastian hurry and choose what belongings to take with them. Eventually, Viola and Sebastian enter the water off the ship. The scene turns underwater, showing the twins desperately grabbing each other. But “deep currents and the sinking bark above them divide what not have ever kept them apart”. Both the twins believe that each other have drowned.
During this action-packed scene, there was striking imagery and sound at play in the film. The ship was pictured falling apart and people being thrown into the water. Orchestral music played in the background as the fate of the twins were shown in front of our eyes. It also shows the desperate interaction of the twins while underwater and Sebastian disappearing deeper in the sea. Nunn most likely added this scene for a couple of reasons. One, the film medium of the play can be taken advantage of by using special lighting effects, sound and the dramatic imagery to enhance the film. It allowed the use of the ship’s setting and rough seas to depict the shipwreck scene that was not part of the original play. This could be used to show Nunn’s direction of the film and the use of the props. Second, it shows what was implied by Shakespeare to have happened prior to the beginning of the play. Nunn most likely chose to include this scene as it would be much easier for the audience to understand the context of the shipwreck, as it is harder than reading the script in the film. Also, at this point, the very first scene of the play was reordered, and instead of Orsino with his monologue, the shipwreck was continued with Viola and the Captain. This was also most likely done to fit in more chronologically and easier for the audience to perceive what is happening.
Next, right after the shipwreck, Viola and the Captain make it to shore, soldiers riding horses rush onto the beach. This was part of the change in setting that Illyria (where they wrecked onto) is at war with their origin country (Messaline). The interesting addition in this scene is Feste (Ben Kingsley), who looks over on Viola and the Captain on the edge of the cliff. The audience may also notice that the previous voiceover/narrator in the film was actually Feste. From this addition, it means that Feste is aware of the shipwreck and possibly Viola’s true identity later in the film. Nunn probably chose to add this into his film to make Feste the one character who knows everything — which is reminiscent of all of Shakespeare’s fools across his plays. The fool is designed to be the character who speaks the truth and the one that knows the secrets of everyone. This enhances this perception to be more accurate.
Also, Feste’s character in this film adaptation appears to be quite different from the perception in the play and stage productions. Feste is not only dressed well and formally, but also speaks quite calmly and seriously. In comparison to the Globe production of this film — a production to resemble the original Shakespearean portrayal, shows Feste more like the title of Fool or Clown, where he dresses in green like a clown. This is an interesting aspect of this film, for Feste carries the property of being the knowledgeable one — as they are meant to, but loses the property of being a fool or clown, like his title. Also, in the rest of the film, although Feste does ‘fool’ around a bit, he remains to be the very serious and humble person. Nunn possibly did this to Feste’s character to raise his importance in the film’s plot to be the one person who does not engage in any relationships, is well accepted by all and knows all of what is going on. He can be considered the onlooker or omniscient character and narrator of the film.
Another modification that Nunn made to the film was the sequence of scenes that were played. There were several changes to the order that scenes were put in the film adaptation, compared to the original play. The first noticeable was that the film did not open with Orsino’s famous lines of “If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it.” Instead, this was done later in the film, after Viola and the Captain finish off her disguise. Many lines were either cut or trimmed in the rest of the film, however none of it affected the progression of the film or plot. Nunn probably did this to cut down on running time and to make the film less boring or repetitive for the audience. Despite the trim in lines, the entire film worked just fine.
In other parts of the film, Nunn utilised the film medium again, by intercutting between scenes when needed. A clear example is when Sir Toby and Sir Andrew return after drinking again late at night and start messing around in Olivia’s kitchen. The scenes were intercut between them messing in the kitchen, Malvolio reading quietly in his room and Olivia sleeping. This allowed the audience to see the contrast between what is happening throughout the different rooms of Olivia’s house. It also showed how Malvolio started getting annoyed by the racket that was going on downstairs. Another clever use of this technique was done near the end of the film, where Nunn juxtaposes between Olivia’s fortune with her relationship with Sebastian — who is being mistaken for Cesario and Malvolio being tortured in prison with his unfortunate circumstances. This technique really gives the audience a sense of the different situations that various characters of the film are experiencing.
FEATURE FILM VS STAGE PRODUCTION
Nunn’s film adaptation of the play puts the plain play script into a full-length movie that utilises props, different settings, costumes and sound. However, it can be interesting to see how a feature film can incorporate more aspects of a play and convey beyond what a play is, compared to a stage production. The Globe production’s version of Twelfth Night is a perfect example of what Shakespeare may have intended his plays to look like, for they produce different Shakespeare plays in a rebuilt Globe Theatre with identical features, similar costumes and an all-male cast to keep the authenticity.
The first point of comparison can be drawn between the use of costume. Nunn’s feature film had a heavy use of costuming for the characters. They were uniquely designed for the period it was set in for the film. The costumes of the characters also changed depending on where they were at in the film. For example, Viola changed into a full male attire for her disguise and Malvolio wore rough clothing when he was in prison. Compared to the Globe production, Viola remained in her female clothing the entire length of the play, despite her supposedly being in a male disguise, which can be confusing for the audience, as they do not know what identity the characters are meant to be portraying. However, this may be a limitation of a stage production, for there is not much time for costumes to be changed often.
Next, the cast was another point of difference. Due to the Globe production keeping the original all-male casting scheme, a heavy amount of make-up was applied to the people playing as females to keep the trend of the female appearance. Also, the voices of the female characters had a low voice. Compared to Nunn’s film, which had a cast of both genders, it allowed for a more realistic portrayal of the characters. Another fact that is amusing is that for Viola in the Globe production, would be a male, pretending to be a woman as Viola, who is then pretending to be a man as Cesario.
Another point of comparison is the setting. A feature film can have virtually an unlimited amount of settings, which can be very beneficial and effective in a more realistic adaptation. Nunn used a central European setting, and utilised the sea coast, gardens and houses for the various scenes of the play. These settings can give the audience more of a feel of the location that the scene is in and the general feeling. Compared to a stage production, it is not possible to change physical settings, and the best that can be done is to emulate using props and equipment. The film production had a much more realistic scene, while the stage production already did the best possible.
In summary, a Nunn’s feature film has a myriad of extra possibilities and features that the Globe production was not able to achieve, by utilising special film techniques and features that enhanced the quality and engagement of the adaptation. However, the Globe production allows the audience to have a very authentic feel of what Shakespeare may have intended his plays to be performed.
CONCLUSION
Nunn’s film adaptation of Twelfth Night was undoubtedly very successful. He remained faithful to the original play by keeping the same plot, content and themes, but portrayed it in a unique and feature-rich experience for the audience. The modifications and additions that Nunn had to his adaptation only enhanced the experience of the film and made the play more interesting by utilising the film medium and using special techniques to capture what is happening within the play’s progression. The feature film makes the play more interesting and enjoyable to watch for the audience. Nunn successfully transfers the era that this play was written in to a more modern time for the film, and keeps much of the authentic features of the setting, period and Shakespearean play’s touch. Nunn provides a great example about how a play written for stage can be transformed into a rich cinematic experience and how a play can be portrayed in a different medium or manner.
FOOTNOTES
1. Wikipedia Foundation. “Twelfth Night (1996 Film).” In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 2018. Accessed September 23, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Night_(1996_film).
2. IMDb. “Twelfth Night or What You Will (1996).” IMDb. Last modified October 25, 1996. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117991/.
Ebert, Roger. “Twelfth Night Movie Review & Film Summary (1996) | Roger Ebert.” Movie Reviews and Ratings by Film Critic Roger Ebert | Roger Ebert. Last modified November 8, 1996. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/twelfth-night-1996.
