We watched Kenneth Brannagh’s Twelfth Night Saturday night (thanks to Mama Squirrel at http://deweystreehouse.blogspot.com for recommending it).
It was a slower in pace than the Trevor Nunn adaptation, and all the action takes place outside, which was odd. But there were some things we liked better. The slower pace made it easier for our young people to follow.
Here’s a line that is funnier when you know what it means:
Sir Toby asks Andrew Aguecheek:
“…why dost thou not go to church in a galliard, and come home in a coranto? My very walk should be a jig. What dost thou mean? is it a world to hide virtues in? I did think, by the excellent constitution of thy leg, it was form’d under the star of a galliard…”
Galliard and Coranto are both dances. Here’s a link for the galliard:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/del/sections/16th_c_italian_dance26.html
AFter you’re done thinking about walking to church doing the Charleston or some such thing, here’s a line that’s funnier because we don’t really know what it means:
Feste: I did impeticos thy gratillity; for Malvolio’s nose is no whipstock…
One of the funniest lines:
Fabian: If this were played upon a stage now, I could
condemn it as an improbable fiction.
Phrases I shall encourage the offspring to use in replace of some current popular terms:
Beshrew me! for ‘We’re rocking’
Misprision in the highest degree! for ‘I didn’t do it!’
Good swabber for ‘dude’
Most radiant, exquisite and unmatchable beauty- for ‘Muvver’ a title young Whats-it uses when he’s trying to wheedle
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.
2 Comments
I didn’t even know there WAS a kenneth Branagh version of this play! I shall request it for our Friday night movie this week. I have seen a different version, which was very good, but at the time I watched it I didn’t know many actors by name, so I couldn’t say who was in it, but Olivia (if I remembered right) was a lady
Oh, I just remembered– Viola was the same lady who plays Lucy Steel in S&S;.
that looked like Helena Bonham-Carter, and the Jester was this really cool bald guy.
Thing-one, you saw the Trevor Nunn version, which we very much enjoyed. Olivia doesn’t look like Helena Bonham-Carter- she *is* Helena Bonham-Carter. The cool bad guy is Ben Kingsley, I believe.
The Kenneth Brannagh version is, I gather, his very first attempt at Shakespeare for film, and it’s perhaps most interesting as a look at how much he learned in a very short time. We suspect this was an extremely low budget film, as an entire hedge is represented by a Charlie Brownesque Christmas Tree, behind which three men hide. You must suspend your disbelief _well_ out of reach for this one.
But for Shakespeare and Brannagh fans it does have some charm and interest.
Anyway, do not be expecting the Branagh you know from later films. He came a long way, baby. Of course, this one has no nekkid people, either.