Twelfth Night

Propeller Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, Edward Hall, Roger Warren, Edward Hall, Roger Warren

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781849436595
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Teatro shakespeariano

Twelfth Night is an ambiguously erotic comedy telling a twisted tale of mistaken identity, transformation and deception. With a man playing a girl disguised as a boy, illusion and reality are almost indistinguishable on Propeller's island of Illyria. Dark and delightful, the play questions what happens when you fall in love with the wrong person, and the answer is both beautiful and bittersweet. This edition of Twelfth Night Includes the Propeller edit of the text, accompanied by an introduction to the text and Propeller's process, with articles on notable features specific to the production, including the use of music, design, and costume.

Characters

FESTE

ORSINO, Duke of Illyria

CURIO, his servant

VIOLA, later Cesario

SEBASTIAN, her twin brother

A SEA CAPTAIN

OLIVIA

MALVOLIO, her steward

SIR TOBY BELCH, her uncle

MARIA, her gentlewoman

SIR ANDREW AGUECHEEK, suitor to Olivia

ANTONIO, a sea captain

A PRIEST

TWO OFFICERS

SCENE ONE

	On stage, three large, mirror-fronted wardrobes through which entrances and exits can be made, covered with dust sheets; at the back a crashed chandelier. This is the neglected palace of ORSINO, Duke of Illyria.
	FESTE enters from the audience. He sings ‘Come away death’, accompanied by masked figures who gather around him: the ‘Zanies’ of the Commedia dell’arte to whom MALVOLIO later refers. They watch, and play music for, subsequent scenes in which they do not participate as characters. FESTE removes another dust sheet, revealing ORSINO seated, dishevelled and barefoot.
ORSINO	If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it, that surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die. That strain again, it had a dying fall. O it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour. Enough, no more,
	They break off abruptly.
	’Tis not so sweet now as it was before. O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, That notwithstanding thy capacity Receiveth as the sea, naught enters there, Of what validity and pitch so e’er, But falls into abatement and low price Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy That it alone is high fantastical.
	Enter CURIO.
CURIO	Will you go hunt, my lord?
ORSINO	What, Curio?
CURIO	The hart.
ORSINO	Why so I do, the noblest that I have. O when mine eyes did see Olivia first Methought she purged the air of pestilence; That instant was I turned into a hart, And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, E’er since pursue me. How now, what news from her?
CURIO	So please my lord, I might not be admitted, But from her handmaid do return this answer: The element itself till seven years’ heat Shall not behold her face at ample view, But like a cloistress she will veilèd walk And water once a day her chamber round With eye-offending brine: all this to season A brother’s dead love, which she would keep fresh And lasting in her sad remembrance.
ORSINO	O she that hath a heart of that fine frame To pay this debt of love but to a brother, How will she love when the rich golden shaft Hath killed the flock of all affections else That live in her — when liver, brain, and heart, These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and filled Her sweet perfections with one self king! Away before me to sweet beds of flowers. Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.
	Exeunt.
	The chandelier is raised.

SCENE TWO

	The sea coast. A ship’s bell sounds. As a model ship is raised, the company form to create a ship; they mime the shipwreck, in which VIOLA and SEBASTIAN, held shoulder-high, are parted. VIOLA and the CAPTAIN collapse.
VIOLA	What country, friends, is this?
CAPTAIN	This is Illyria, lady.
VIOLA	And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium. Perchance he is not drowned, what think you Captain?
CAPTAIN	It is perchance that you yourself were saved.
VIOLA	O my poor brother! And so perchance may he be.
CAPTAIN	True madam, and to comfort you with chance, Assure yourself, after our ship did split, When you and those poor number saved with you Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother, Most provident in peril, bind himself, Courage and hope both teaching him the practice, To a strong mast that lived upon the sea, Where like Arion on the dolphin’s back, I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves, So long as I could see.
VIOLA	For saying so, there’s gold. Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope, Whereto thy speech serves for authority, The like of him. Know’st thou this country?
	The masked ZANIES reassemble, and listen.
CAPTAIN	Ay madam, well, for I was bred a...