Twelfth Night
1986: Alan Erlich
If one is looking for a straightforward cinematic rendition of Twelfth Night with a conservative production design and acting that ranges from the serviceable to the magnificent, one would need to look no further. If only it were easier to find. This film is apparently scarcely known outside Canada, and undocumented even on IMDB.com, but it’s one of the best renditions of Twelfth Night I’ve ever encountered.
All the principal roles are carried off magnificently. Nicholas Pennell deserves special mention: this was one of his last performances on film, and he bears his changes of fortune with a mixture of gravitas and absurdity, until he is finally, devastatingly crushed. The performance is as good as any that can be found even in a field crowded with great performances. Similarly Edward Atienza’s Feste is ugly and gnarled, appealing but repellent, and (typical of Shakespeare’s clowns) an oracle of truth that we still dare not trust. Between the two of them arises a real electricity, wrapped up in the passionate unfolding of their mutual dislike and wish for revenge; when the play ends, we’re left (as we should be) not really sure what to do with either of them. Around their inner tragicomic battle dance Seana McKenna’s extraordinarily appealing Viola, Colm Fiore’s Orsino, and Maria Ricossa’s Olivia, all of them in top form; and the two knights and Maria. These latter three mischief-makers are broadly comical, as they must be, but at the same time their portrayal is a good deal more nuanced and believable than is normally the case.
Unlike most of the other “Stratford Collection” or “Shakespeare Collection” plays from the Canadian Broadcasting Company, this is a fully cinematic treatment of the play rather than a filmed stage production. Though it is still clearly on a sound stage, we never see the stage as a stage, we never see an audience; it makes use of varied camera angles, including trenchant use of closeups and expertly handled dissolves. The sets are attractive and not distracting; the costumes are basically Elizabethan, within the somewhat enlarged range the play demands. All the possible high concept solutions that might be imposed on the play are left to one side to give scope for the genuine character interaction and magnificent dialogue, well delivered.
The DVD is now available in the US, and it is technically better than many of the rest: the image quality is crisp and bright, with no bleeding of image, and excellent color balance and art direction. It’s very watchable and a genuinely laudable production.
Antonio: Benedict Campbell
Captain: Michael Shepherd
Curio: Brent Stait
Fabian: Keith Dinicol
Feste: Edward Atienza
Malvolio: Nicholas Pennell
Maria: Barbara March
Olivia: Maria Ricossa
Orsino: Colm Fiore
Priest: Charles Kerr
Sebastian: Ernest Harrop
Sir Andrew Aguecheek: Joseph Ziegler
Sir Toby Belch: James Blendick
Valentine: David Renton
Viola: Seana McKenna