Well, phooey. I remember liking this one more. I know I've watched and read "Twelfth Night" several times over the years, and I just don't recall Duke Orsino coming across as such a psychopath before.

Generally speaking, I'm not too keen on the comedies, or the cross-dressing stuff, or the love triangles. But Viola is a spunky gal, and Olivia is pretty tolerable, and the whole “teasing Malvolio” thing is quite entertaining – much better than the usual clowning sub-plot. For some reason, though, Orsinio's obsessive desire for Olivia, despite her repeated if polite rejections, irked me, and then for Olivia, who has such a clear illustration of how obnoxious such harassment is in Duke Orsino, to turn around and fixate in the same creepy way on Viola/Cesario is rather bizarre. But the crowning moment of ickiness is (and there is a spoiler ahead, but this is Shakespeare, so I don't really have to hide it, do I?) in Act 5, when the Duke, furious that Olivia loves Viola/Cesario, says he's going to kill her/him just to bug Olivia and Viola says that's just fine with her – whatever makes him happy. Ewww. Three stars despite the horrible ending because the previous four acts were pretty good.

Reading Shakespeare is almost like going down into the basement of literature and examining the foundations.

So often I find the origins of what has become trite and overdone, and yet Shakespeare was the fountain from which so much springs. This is especially true of Twelfth Night, it is apparent that so many comedies and romances over the centuries were heavily influenced by this play.

Very entertaining.

Comedies are never my favorites of Shakespeare, though this was quite a delightful reading for Yule. A bit silly and nonsensical does make it fanciful and worked well for me. Honestly, Shakespeare is one of those things that I think is infinitely better in performance than reading, especially the comedies.

It was between Twelfth Night and A Winter's Tale--I chose this one. I suppose I'll save A Winter's Tale for next Yule and finally read the bloodbath that is Titus Andronicus. Onwards!

Thoughts two seconds after having finished Twelfth Night:
Everybody was gay and the next second, next thing you know it was ‘guess we’re not?’ Honestly it was the weirdest thing I read by Shakespeare. It’s not that nothing made sense but it was a lot of secondary stories colliding with each others to make this main one and it was difficult to follow at times.
But yeah, it went from ‘welcome to the land of gays’ to ‘no homo’ in a nano second. For nearly the entire story I thought we would get a f/f relationship but huh 'it Shakespeare, Romie, you knew what you were getting yourself into.’
Basically it’s a 2 or 2.25 read

On İkinci Gece, William Shakespeare’in ölümüne çok da uzak olmayan bir zamanda yazdığı, komedi türünde bir oyun. Bu oyunda da komedi unsurları Shakespeare’in oyunlarında olduğu gibi, genelde yanlış anlaşılmalardan türüyor. Ülkemizde de İBB Şehir Tiyatroları kapsamında ilk temsili 21 Ekim 2015 günü yapılmış. Geçen aralık ayı itibari ile ise oyun tekrar sahnelenmeye başladı ve hiç vakit kaybetmeden önce İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları baskısından oyunun metnini alıp okudum; daha sonrasında ise bu yazıyı sıcağı sıcağına kaleme aldığım günden bir gün önce, yani 9 Ocak 2020 tarihinde oyunu izledim.

On İkinci Gece oyununun konusu oldukça karışık; gemi kazasından kurtulan Viola, aslında kurtulmuş olan ve kendisine çok benzeyen ağabeyi Sebastian’ın öldüğünü sanır ve onun kılığında, kurgusal bir dükalık olan Illyria Dükü Orsino’nun hizmetine girer ve ona âşık olur. Orsino ise kardeşinin ölümü için yasta olan Kontes Olivia’ya fena halde âşıktır ve hizmetine yeni girmiş olan Viola’yı – onu Cesario sanarak – Olivia’ya olan aşkını anlatması ve inandırması üzerine kontese yollar. Kontesin de erkek görünümündeki Viola’ya aşık olması ile elimizde karmakarışık, erkek kılığına girmiş bir kadın da içeren aşk üçgeni vardır artık.

n  Doğancan Gedikn

İncelemenin tamamı: https://kayiprihtim.com/inceleme/on-i...

“If music be the food of love, play on.”

Delightful and witty. I don't know if I'm getting better at this “Shakespeare via audiobook” thing or if Twelfth Night just has simpler language than some of his other plays, but I really enjoyed listening to this one and had no trouble keeping the storyline and characters straight. The BBC recording with David Tennant as Malvolio is fantastic, although I was ever so slightly annoyed that they moved some of the scenes around.

Also, I'm now determined to work “But I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit” into a conversation. It'll be extra hilarious because I'm a vegetarian.

So, yeah. Another excellent play by the Bard of Avon.

“[Shakespeare] … before I go I just wanna tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I.”*

*I realized hours after the fact that Christopher Eccleston said this and not David Tennant, but whatever. I'm leaving it. Take away my Doctor Who fan club card if you must.

January 2025: This was so fun to read/listen to on Twelfth Night! I really enjoy this comedy, even more so on a re-read.

It feels silly to rate Shakespeare. I enjoyed this one and found it easy to follow the plot. I like the twin twist, though it was rather easy to see coming. This is also the Patience on a Monument quotation, which I have heard Wodehouse quote. That is my current measure for Shakespeare—how many quotes are familiar because of my familiarity with Wodehouse.

You know what? I think this play is the Shakespearean equivalent of Three’s Company, a laugh-track comedy with goofball characters and preposterous situations that trigger a chain of events you can see coming a mile away. We’re talking here about a play in which a woman masquerades as a man (pretty much for the hell of it), deceiving everyone into believing she’s a dude without testes—because how else do you, in the absence of injectable testosterone products, convince people you’re a dude other than to pretend you’ve been castrated as a young boy? She manages even to convince a wealthy countess of her “maleness,” inadvertently eliciting the countess’s romantic interests, this of course culminating in a wacky situation indeed because the girl herself is in love with the duke she is working for—the very duke who sent her to the countess in the first place to procure the countess’s love for him! OMFG!

But this is a play in five acts, guys, so the Jack Tripper shenanigans don’t end there. The testicle-free girl has a brother—that’s all, just a brother (there are no identical twins anywhere in this play)—and that alone is enough to exacerbate confusion to the extreme. Because by the dual condition that A) she has a brother; and B) she is pretending to be a dude; it must therefore follow that C) she looks exactly like him. And when I say “exactly,” I mean precisely. The two are virtually indistinguishable from one another—even without having had Adam’s apple reduction surgery. Amazing, right? So now we have a girl being mistaken for her brother, her brother being mistaken for her, and this occurring even among people who know the brother intimately. One had spent every day of the last three months with this guy and still thought his sister were he! Can’t you just imagine this whole thing playing out at the Regal Beagle or something? Mr. Furley’s wide eyes darting back and forth in surprise, Chrissy scratching her head in disbelief, Jack hiding under the table, Janet watering her plants.

But all ribbing aside, I actually liked this play. Not as much as Shakespeare’s tragedies, of course—I honestly do believe this particular play is heavier on entertainment value than it is on literary value, but I’m the kind of guy who enjoys a good Three’s Company rerun. Irrespective of situational believability or plot predictability, when it is executed well enough, I am wholly entertained.

A fun play! But I didn’t feel the depth to it? It’s just an enjoyable, comedic read but I didn’t feel any particular type of way about it. Studying it I know we can look into gender and sexuality a lot, but it just wasn’t captivating me. I think it’s one that is probably better on stage and in performance than reading it. I was entertained by having a character called Olivia.

Theatre is a genre that you read when you feel like it. So it is with pleasure that I find a genre that I like to read, a classic; what is more, the Shakespearean theatre shows a model in the genre.
Here, the scenes engage the themes of cross-dressing, misunderstandings, revenge, and cunning—and love, of course. Who always wants to be complex and convoluted with this master?
The characters are archetypes but also conceal the richness of the game. As often, we particularly savor the flights of the madman, imprinted with many truths so that everything ends well.
It is a play that can scan, a story with twists that lend itself to smiles and emotion.

9. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
originally performed: 1601
format: 136 page Royal Shakespeare Company edition from 2010 (entire book is 195 pages)
editors: Jonathan Bate & Eric Rasmussen
acquired: library
read: Jan 6 – Feb 3
time reading: 7 hr 43 min, 3.4 min/page
rating: 4

The latest play from the little Litsy group I'm following - one act a week, so I tend to spend Sunday morning reading Shakespeare, a pleasant habit. This was good fun, and a lot of silliness. A comedy where Shakespeare pulled out humor in every which way, including endless innuendos, a brilliant and cruel practical joke, a lot of confusion with twins, eyes falling rapturously in love instantly (and then out of it), and a lot of very sharp wit from the fool and the ladies, one disguised as a man. The Fool explains the play best: "Look then to be well edified when the fool delivers the madman."

Twins: Freaky or Fun?
Twelfth Night is Shakespeare's answer to that age-old question.



While I was listening to this, I had no idea that Viola & Sebastian were twins. As far as I knew, they were just siblings. But, apparently, they were (<--if I had read the blurb, I would have known this).
And apparently, it was also easy to pass as a man 400 years ago!
I guess if Gwen could do it (and still find time to write her ever-practical GOOP blog), then I could too!



This is useful to know, in case I ever get that time machine in the basement working and then decide to travel back to the 1600s to trick another woman into falling in love with me.
Otherwise, not quite as useful.



Anyway. So what was this one about?
Warning: Spoilers
But, realistically, I probably didn't understand what actually happened in the play anyway, so everything in this review is more than likely wrong.
Warning: Incorrect Spoilers

Ok, Viola & Sebastian went on a Carnival Cruise Vacation.
It ended badly. As they typically do...



Viola washes up on the shore of Illyria, thinking that her dear brother is lost at sea, and decides she needs to find a man!



She makes a deal with a Sea Witch
disguised to look like the captain of the vessel that rescued her!


, who turns her into a man, so she can infiltrate Prince Eric's Duke Orsino's household.
She has 3 days to snag a kiss, or the spell will be broken!
If that happens, the Sea Witch will plant her soul with all the rest of the poor bastards who made shitty impulsive deals!
Kids, it's never a good idea to strike a bargain with someone who has the word WITCH prominently displayed in their name. Just sayin'.



Right from the start, there are complications with Viola's plan. First off, the Duke is in love with someone else. HUGE problem. HUGE.
Secondly, he wants her (now known as Cesario) to woo his lady-love for him. Yeah! Can you believe that shit?
Hey, Olivia. Um, Orsino wants to know if you like him, or if you like him-like him?
Unfortunately, girls don't like it when you send a representative.
Grab your nuts and ask her out.



But in Orsino's defense, Olivia had rebuffed his previous advances.
A lot.



Now, Olivia is very intelligent, because she knows Orsino can't possibly really love her - due to the fact that he doesn't know her very well.
And at the same time, she's incredibly unintelligent, because she not only falls in love with Cesario after 5 minutes, but also fails to notice that the Dude Looks Like A Lady, and throws herself most unwelcomely at poor Viola.



Meanwhile, there is a whole 'nother story happening with Olivia's Uncle Toby & his drinking buddy, Andrew (<--who also likes Olivia!).
These two get together with Olivia's maid (and maybe someone else?) and decide to play a trick on a self-righteous guy named Malvolio, for calling them out on being obnoxious drunks.
At least it was a harmless and tasteful prank. They just made Olivia (<--Malvalio also likes her!) think he might possibly be demon-possessed, and then threw him in a dark room and tormented him for days.



Back to the love triangle!
Cuz here's where things get weird. Remember how Viola's brother died? Surprise, he's alive! And in Illyria! And with the captain who saved him! Naturally, he thinks his sister drowned <--because it's hard to swim in a dress!
So sad.



But while he's out mourning, he runs into...wait for it...OLIVIA!
And because her love runs so deep, she immediately mistakes him for his sister-in-drag and corners him to profess her undying love. She must be one hot piece of ass, because a few stolen moments with her, and Sebastian is head over heels in love. Then she proposes to him.
Whoo-hoo! Feminism!
Hundreds of years later, and we're almost there, ladies!



Olivia (savvy lady that she is) seems to have kept a priest on standby just for this sort of occasion because 15 minutes later those two are saying their vows.



Don't worry, I'm sure they are going to be very happy.
Let's check in on Malvolio, shall we?



Well, he seems fine!
{insert more shenanigans here}
Duke Orsino finds out that Olivia is in love with Cesario, and starts hauling him away to be killed. Viola/Cesario accepts her fate because she loves Orsino so much that she would rather DIE than cause him pain.
If it were me, I'd vote for pain. Sorry, Orsino.
Olivia, desperate to save her man, calls in the priest to attest that they are married. Which just confuses the hell out of Viola.
But not for long!
Because good old Uncle Toby comes running in with a story about getting his ass kicked by Cesario, followed quickly by the Imitation Cesario (aka Sebastian).
At which point, everyone realizes that there are TWO Cesarios in the house.
Damn! Shit just got real!



It only takes several minutes of ridiculous questions for each of the (painfully stupid) Wonder Twins to realize that their sibling isn't dead.
Your father had a mole?
*gasp*
My father had a mole!



I know what you're thinking...
How does Viola keep from becoming fertilizer in the Sea Witch's garden of shriveled souls?
Good question, random person!
It turns out, once Orsino realizes that A) Olivia is off the market and B) Cesario is a girl, he immediately transfers his undying love to her.
Boom! Done! Happy Endings for everyone!
Including Olivia's maid (and Punk'd accomplice), Maria, who gets married to the drunken prize, Toby.



Oh, and don't worry about Malvolio. They eventually let him out. I mean, yeah, he's pretty much scarred for life and wanders away swearing to have his revenge, but I'm sure he'll get over it.



It's a little-known fact that Twelfth Night wasn't Shakespeare's first choice for the name of this play. Originally, it was going to be called, How Stupid Can You Be? <--Read it on the internet. Must be true.
Ok, maybe not. Regardless, this was a fun story, and I quite enjoyed it.

I listened to this one on a Playaway device, and I got to hear a full cast of characters, sound effects, and music. Definitely the way to go!