This DVD presents the RSC’s adaptation of “Twelfth Night.” The first performance of this production was staged on November 2, 2017. It was directed by Christopher Luscombe.
Shakespeare’s plays are an illustration of the process that leads to the development of subtle but still latent layers of the human mind. It is through this process -and not by moralistic preaching, intellectual argumentation or emotional stimuli- that humanity may progress along its evolutionary path. In “Twelfth Night” Shakespeare illustrates an episode of this process. A specific state of the human mind is symbolically represented by Illyria. Duke Orsino and Lady Olivia are the leading aspects of this being. The opening scene defines Illyria’s initial state: Orsino is hopelessly in love with Olivia; Olivia is withdrawn as she mourns her dead brother. It is a stagnant and dysfunctional state. In order to make progress something has to be done. Namely, an impulse of Love is injected into this stagnant being. But this is not ordinary love; this Love is evolutionary in its nature; it reaches beyond and above emotional attachments and sensual attractions. By effectively absorbing the impulse, a new perceptive faculty is activated. In “Twelfth Night,” this impulse is symbolically represented by Viola and Sebastian. They are sent from an imaginary place called Messaline (“Messaline” is made of “Messina” and “Mytilene,” i.e., places which played a similar function in previous episodes of Shakespeare’s narrative). The impulse is targeted simultaneously for Orsino and Olivia. This is why it is represented as twins: Viola is marked for Orsino; Sebastian for Olivia. At the beginning, neither Orsino nor Olivia is ready yet for such an experience. Therefore, the initial impact is modulated by having Viola dressed as a boy named Cesario. As always, a wise man is needed to facilitate this particular stage of the process (after all this is the Twelfth Night). Feste is the wise man. His return to Olivia’s house is prompted by the arrival of the twins. Feste is the only character of the play who knows exactly what is going on. He uses music and songs to direct the process. He has to make sure that Malvolio does not interfere with the process and that Sebastian is brought on the scene at the right moment. His role is to make sure that at the end of the play, the needed progress is realized: a new perceptive faculty of the mind is activated. This is represented by two couples being happily married in the same place and at the same time. Afterwards, Illyria will be ready to enter onto the next stage of the process.
In his characteristic way, Shakespeare inserts in his plays certain intellectual and emotional traps. The traps work as barriers for rational and dogmatic minds. As a result, the meaning of the plays remains hidden from those who attempt to explain them by logical means or through the psychology of emotions (like Malvolio, who is “excellent at faults,” i.e., excellent at following false leads). In this quirky way, Shakespeare helps his audiences to identify and then overcome their mental shortcomings. In the case of “Twelfth Night,” the traps are in the form of homosexual overtones that are subtly injected into the interactions between Olivia and Cesario, Cesario and Orsino, Sebastian and Antonio. All those who are preoccupied, obsessed, or fearful of such relationships will get stuck there; they will not be able to see beyond this barrier. For them, the homosexual aspects will override the entire play; they will focus their attention on symptoms at the expense of losing the sight of the underlying cause.
Let’s take a look at how Christopher Luscombe, the director, approached the play. In accordance with the latest trend, Luscombe reversed the first two scenes: instead of the introductory scene with Orsino, the play opens with Viola’s arrival in Illyria. This is a minor change to the original text, but -in the context of the overall design of the play- it reverses the sequence of the stages of the process that is illustrated in the play. This makes it even more difficult for the audience to grasp the meaning of the events that are unfolding in front of their eyes. Secondly, Feste’s function is significantly eroded by having his songs distributed repeatedly and randomly throughout the play. At one point, even Viola, instead of Feste, sings one of his songs. In this way, Feste’s role is significantly diluted, because the timing of Feste’s songs, their lyrics and the audience to which they are delivered – are of great importance to the overall process (“He must observe their mood on whom he jests, the quality of person, and the time”).
The entire environment of the play is transformed from the region belonging to the Ottoman Empire into England of the late Victorian era. This change of the original set has allowed Luscombe to bring in references to Oscar Wilde and put more emphasis on the homosexual aspects of the play. Or, as stated by Russell Jackson in the brochure attached to the DVD, “the possibility and hazards of same-sex desire shadow the comedy.” Consequently, the second scene introduces Orsino painting the portrait of a pretty young man with few clothes on (an obvious allusion to Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”). In Luscombe’s production, Orsino is obviously much more attracted to young men than it is indicated in the original text. To be consistent with these changes, Luscombe extends his misreading of the play all the way to the final scene. At the end, instead of the joyful moment when “golden time convents, a solemn combination shall be made of our dear souls,” the four lovers are visibly confused and somehow distracted. Instead of Shakespeare’s joyful solution, Luscombe offers us dark confusion. In other words, Luscombe’s production is a textbook example of the working of Shakespeare’s trap.
It is really unfortunate that the director opted for an inferior approach and robbed the audience from experiencing something that would have a much more profound effect. Such a transmogrification of “Twelfth Night” may be compared to using a surgeon scalpel for peeling potatoes. Yes, it can be done. But this precise instrument has been designed for a much more sophisticated and much more effective purpose.
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