Twelfth Night and As You Like It

Synopsis
Documentary. Joely Richardson looks at Shakespeare’s women examining As You Like It and Twelfth Night covering issues such as cross dressing, twins, disguise, the nature of comedy and gender. The examination includes clips from:
TWELFTH NIGHT (1910) d. Charles Kent.
TWELFTH NIGHT (BBC, 1963) d. Michael Elliott.
TWELFTH NIGHT (ATV, 1969) d. John Sichel
TWELFTH NIGHT (BBC, 1980) d. John Gorrie.
TWELFTH NIGHT (1996) d. Trevor Nunn.

AS YOU LIKE IT (BBC, 1963). d. Michael Elliott.
AS YOU LIKE IT (BBC, 1978) d. Basil Coleman. (Helen Mirren talks about her role as Rosalind).
AS YOU LIKE IT (2007) d. Kenneth Branagh.
AS YOU LIKE IT (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, 2010. d. Sharrock).

Vanessa Redgrave talks to Joely Richardson about her celebrated roles of Viola and Rosalind and her love of Shakespeare and reads some passages. Tom Hollander and Adrian Lester speak briefly about Cheek By Jowl’s all-male production.

There are also scenes from a production of Twelfth Night at Dulwich College and a pantomine at Nottingham Playhouse with Helen Wilding as Prince Charming. Brief scene of a drag stand-up routine with Shakespeare references from Steve Coogan. A brief clip from The Comedy of Errors (BBC, 1964) d. Clifford Williams.

There are contributions from Jonathan Bate, Andrew Dickson, Marjorie Garber, Germaine Greer, Laura Maguire, Nick Hytner, Gill Perry, Abigail Rokison, Thea Sharrock, Stanley Wells.
Series
Shakespeare Uncovered
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Television
Technical information
Colour / Sound
Transmission details
19 Jun 2012 at 21:00 (Channel: BBC4)
Duration
60 mins

Credits

Director
Janice Sutherland
Producer
Janice Sutherland
Contributor
Abigail Rokison; Adrian Lester; Andrew Dickson; Germaine Greer; Helen Mirren; Joely Richardson; Jonathan Bate; Marjorie Garber; Nicholas Hytner; Stanley Wells; Thea Sharrock; Tom Hollander; Vanessa Redgrave
Cast
Vanessa RedgraveViola (later disguised as Cesario)
Steve Coogan 

Additional Details

Production type
Documentary/Educational/News
Plays
As You Like It; Twelfth Night
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
comedy; gender representation; pantomime; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); twins; women; Cross-dressing
Related items
Prefaces to Shakespeare

Notes

Notes
The six episodes in this series are available as a 2-disc DVD from MovieMail and other retailers with the title PREFACES TO SHAKESPEARE. The DVD is catalogued separately on this database. The DVD is catalogued separately on this database. The series is also released on DVD (Region 1) by PBS and sold as a 2-DVD set with the MY SHAKESPEARE series under the general title of SHAKESPEARE UNCOVERED.
Reviews
"There were lots of academics giving their tuppence worth too, but rather too many statements such as "Shakespeare never forgot his family" and "Shakespeare loved strong women", which are neither provable nor believable. He may not have forgotten his family in the years he spent apart from them, he may have loved strong women, but equally he may not. And surely that is part of the beauty of the Bard: we don’t have much of a clue what he thought about anything and so can interpret his writing in myriad ways". http://www.theartsdesk.com/tv/joely-richardson-shakespeares-women-bbc-four (accessed 6/2012).

Online Availability

Online URL
https://store.bbc.com/shakespeare-uncovered
Online price
£1.89
Online format
Download

Production Company

Name

116 Films

Name

Blakeway Productions

Name

Thirteen/WNET

Archive

Name

BFI National Archive

Web
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Phone
020 7255 1444
Fax
020 7436 0165
Address
21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN
Name

Learning on Screen Off-Air Recording Back-up Service

Email
services@bufvc.ac.uk
Web
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Phone
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Fax
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Address
For Learning on Screen Members only
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Distributor

Name

BBC Store

Web
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Notes
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Online Retailer

Name

PBS Shop

Web
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How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Twelfth Night and As You Like It". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av74159 (Accessed 11 Dec 2024)