Compearing movie and stage versions

We have now watched both movie and stage adaptation of  Twelfth night, and I thought it would be nice to a little comparison between the two. I will start by talking about the movie, since we did see it first, and then move on to the stage adaptation.


   I won't go into too much detail about the plot, since I am sure once we actually start reading the play I will have to go over it more in detail. But shortly, the story is about a woman called Viola who, after losing her twin brother in a storm, decides to disguise herself as a man to survive in the land of Illyria. She ends working for, and falling in love with Duke Orsino, who instead is in love with Olivia who after meeting Viola dressed as Cesario, falls in love with her. This mess of unrequited love gets more complicated once Viola's twin brother arrives.
   Watching the movie really cleared up some of the character relationships and the plot over all. This way, once we start reading the play as a group, it'll be easier to picture the different scenes and understand the language.
   The movie was done in a fairly naturalistic style, but set in a later century than the play was written. This was pointed out to us, that a lot of Shakespeare's plays are very adaptable, meaning they can be set in different times era's , without jeopardizing the meaning and story of the play. I think this is something we can really play with once we stand thinking about, how we want to do the play, since we will have more freedom on the setting and costumes.
   The set of the play, and so the movie, is in Illyria, a made up land that is in war with the land that Viola and Sebastian come from. After watching the film, I thought it would be good to do some research in this land and I found some interesting things.

• An ancient region of the Western Balkans whose coast covered the coasts of modern Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Albania
• Description of this land was purely fiction to create a mysterious setting for the play
•  Used in Shakespeare's other plays as well, e.g. Henry VI, as a place of pirates. 

It also has connections to an Italian play, which is probably why a lot of the characters have Italian names Still, some of the places and names connect very strongly to England that creates an interesting contrast.


The stage adaptation took a much more stylistic approach to the play, though still keeping the acting quite naturalistic. They had decided to set it in the 40's, at least that was how the different character's were dressed like. Also, since it was on stage, the director had made an interesting decision to have set be a one room, that changes slightly when characters move or bring on furniture. Lighting was also used to create mood and different situations, such as the storm.
    One of the biggest differences between these two adaptations was their approach on 'love' or rather 'affection' between the different characters. A perfect example would be relationship between Cesario(Viola) and Olivia. In the movie, the love Olivia has towards Cesario is innocent and  in a way pure, she doesn't have any other to be in love other than being in love and she truly wants to marry him. But the play, where first of all the actress of Olivia is notably older than in the movie, it seems as if Cesario is a way for her to have fun or perhaps she wants to get married soon because of her age. At the end, when Cesario is revealed to be Viola, Olivia still takes her with her off-stage, because now Viola is this woman who dresses as a man, a scandal of sort and amusement for this rich and powerful older woman. So, the stage adaptation definitely addresses more the nature of the people with higher status and how all this money and power leaves them with just wanting more and more fun.
   In the original play, there is definitely some undertones to homosexuality, or attraction between people of the same gender. After saving Sebastian, Antonio obviously has some feeling for him. In the movie this wasn't directly shown, but the stage adaptation showed them kissing goodbyes, showing a clear relationship between them. Also Cesario's and Orsino's complicated relationship was shown more sexual than in the movie.