On the other hand, Sir Andrew, earlier described to have hair that “(hung) like flax on a distaff”, could come in dressed in the likeness of his ‘master’. In this manner, the audience would be drawn to the comic look of Sir Andrew, looking so alike (in dressing), yet so different (in size). Sir Andrew’s size is suggested by his name, “Aguecheek”, symbolizing that he looks sickly and thin. Also, as Sir Andrew is pale (sickly), the bright colours emphasize on his colour, and they do not complement each other, making it look hilarious. Next, as they enter through the backdoor, Sir Toby would nonchalantly direct Sir Andrew to close the door just by pointing at the door. This would suggest that Sir Andrew has been blindly following Sir Toby for so long that he knows what Sir Toby wants with just a snap of his fingers.
In their exchange, Sir Toby would overpower Sir Andrew, standing high and tall looking down upon him, while Sir Andrew looks inferior and looks up to Sir Toby. In the room they stand in, there would be a long table with some chairs set around it. There should also be an old piano and a brighter lighting to the room. This is so as later on, Sir Toby and friends start singing carelessly. Also, it is late in the night, and hence, a brighter lighting would be suitable to bring out their joy and laughter. While Sir Toby is trying to convince Sir Andrew that staying up late is good, Feste comes strolling down the pathway, holding his instrument. His dressing would be colourful so as to bring out the ‘fool’ and cheerfulness in him.
At the moment Sir Toby says, “Marian, I say! A stoup of wine!”, Feste comes tumbling in through the door (from the left), doing a gentle bow to the two man in the room. This would emphasize on his carefree nature. At Feste’s entrance, the light could be brighter, to show that Feste adds to the humour of the scene. In their exchange, when Feste says his first lines, “How now, my hearts! Did you never see the picture of We Three?”, he would place his arms playfully around Sir Andrew and Sir Toby’s shoulders, and perhaps stir up a dance amongst them, cheering up the already happy-looking scene.
Next, when Feste asks them, “Would you have a love song, or a song of good life?”, Sir Toby jumps up excitedly from his chair and shouts, “A love song! A love song!”. Then, Sir Andrew follows suit, exaggerating his jump from his seat, and says, “Ay, ay; I care not for good life”. Here, the audience sees once again the blind following of Sir Andrew. Following this, Feste takes up his instrument and starts singing the song. Sir Toby struts off to the piano and starts playing it. Sir Andrew, with no talent to flaunt, merely stands around, doing a ridiculous dance by himself. At the first part of Feste’s song, he sings it in a cheerful tone, and playful manner. At the end of it, both Sir Toby and Sir Andrew praises Feste. Next, Feste’s second verse becomes a little less cheerful, and hints a tinge of sadness and melancholy. However, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby take no notice of this melancholy, and praises Feste just the same. Here, Feste should bring out the melancholy of the song to the audience, and Sir Andrew and Sir Toby should seem careless to the fact, and continue having their own fun.
Thereafter, Sir Toby suggests that they would “rouse the night-owl in a catch that will draw three souls out of one weaver? Shall we do that?” Here, Sir Toby should give a loud laughter, and ask cheekily, “Shall we do that?” This would bring out the rebellious nature of him. Throughout the scene, Sir Toby could do a few belches, to also show forth his coarse and uncivilised side. Through these belches, it would also give an emphasis to his name, “Sir Toby BELCH”, and henceforth show that his name coincides with his nature. Following this, Sir Andrew suggests that they sing a catch. Feste and Sir Toby seem to agree eagerly, and together, they join hands and start singing at the top of their voices. Joining hands, the three dance cheerfully around the room, making full use of the space, to show forth their true carelessness and nonchalance towards others.
At the loudness, Maria dashes in through the doors (entering from the right of the stage), with a disapproving look on her face. Maria is suggested to be a small woman, and hence, the one who acts as Maria, should look small, yet seem to be one who could control others (inclusive of these three wild men). Maria should dress in a civilised manner, to match up to her mistress’ style. Perhaps, since Olivia seems to be still in her mournful state, Maria should dress in dull colours, and wear an apron. This gives a sense of her hardworking nature, and at the same time, her respect towards Olivia, her mistress. However, perhaps a bright-coloured scarf could characterise her as a friendly, motherly person who knows when to be serious. Despite her disapproval of their rowdiness, she enters with a tray of wine and glasses and serves them each, their glasses of wine. This shows that she is serious at the right time, but knows when to have fun, unlike Malvolio. Sir Andrew, in his happiness, nearly knocks into the tray Maria is holding. Maria does a quick turn to avoid Sir Andrew, showing her flexibility and Sir Andrew’s clumsiness, creating a comic effect. At her entrance, Sir Toby starts uttering nonsense, and sings at the same while. Here, we see that Sir Toby, Feste and Sir Andrew are glad at Maria’s coming in, and wants her to join in the fun with them.
Just when the four of them are happily enjoying themselves, Malvolio enters from the right. Evidently, he symbolises hostility, and at his appearance, the mood and tone of the scene changes temporarily. He would be dressed in his pyjamas, with a black tie set around his neck. Though ridiculous, this is to show that he is overly serious, and even when asleep, acts high and mighty and all-important. Also, when Malvolio appears, the lights would dim, signifying that Malvolio is not wanted and considered an outcast.
The four who are actually standing very close to each other and near the door, see Malvolio, and distance themselves from him, and stand in a circle, surrounding Malvolio. When Malvolio says, “My masters, are you mad?”, it should show a great sense of insult and sarcasm, and putting the four friends down. Through this emotions shown, the audience would truly be able to feel angry for the four, and comprehend the reason behind their plot against him later on. Thereafter, Sir Toby and Feste do not consider Malvolio’s existence as a threat, and in fact, continue singing inspite of him. At this singing, Sir Toby and Feste should appear as rebels, with obstinate looks on their faces, singing louder than before, to spite Malvolio. At this point, Maria would try to calm them down in her motherly manner, “Nay, good Sir Toby”, hoping that they wouldn’t get into trouble with her mistress. Malvolio attempts to stop them, but is interrupted by Sir Toby and Feste’s singing.
In this deliberate antagonism, Sir Toby and Feste sing in a nonsensical manner, appearing to insult Malvolio’s intelligence. They circle round Malvolio, while Malvolio looks up to them with much irritation in his face, raising both his hands to his ears, to show forth the growing of the intensity of his irritation. Finally, they stop singing. Sir Toby then challenges Sir Toby, and there is a rising tension as Feste and Sir Toby gang up and criticises Malvolio. Malvolio, in this case should bend a little (in a little fear), but act as if he is not overpowered. At this, Malvolio realises their intention, and turns his insults towards Maria (who seems to be easier to attack). Perhaps, Sir Toby and Feste could point accusingly at Malvolio, and shake their heads in disgust, behind his back, when Malvolio scolds Maria (bullying one of a lower rank), to show that Malvolio is being a bully to attack Maria, a female, and Olivia’s maid.
Finally, Malvolio leaves. At the point of his angered departure, Malvolio slams the door shut, showing his uncivilised side, and causing the audience to feel more anguish towards his superficiality. He departs through the right door, and exits the stage. As he leaves, the light slowly brightens, and the tone of the scene soothes again, into a comic and light-hearted one. Maria calls after Malvolio sarcastically, “Go shake you ears”, and Sir Andrew comically wants “to challenge him the field”. In these lines, we see that Sir Andrew is illogical and comic in his speech, and hence, the tension caused by Malvolio is released, and the audience is able to start laughing heartily at Sir Andrew once again.
Thereafter, Sir Toby also thinks of resorting to violence. Maria quickly tells them that “If I do not gull him into a nayword, and make him a common recreation, do not think I have wit enough to lie straight in my bed. I know I can do it.” Maria says this clenching her fist and with a confident look. This assures the rest that she would indeed be able to seek revenge against Malvolio. Sir Toby excitedly utters, “Possess us, possess us…” Sir Toby should flutter his hands in anticipation and stare at Maria in admiration. Here, we see a growing bond between them, and the audience experience it too, and smile at this building up of friendship. Following this, Maria lists what she thinks of Malvolio. She does this in a point-of-fact manner, saying them very quickly with a hint of anger in her tone.
In the next few lines, Maria gives Sir Toby and Sir Andrew a gist of her plan, and Sir Toby praises her, “Excellent! I smell a device”. Sir Andrew follows after, “I have’t in my nose too”. When Sir Toby praises, he points a finger upwards in delight. Sir Andrew follows suit and points his finger upwards, but coincidentally at the height right below his nose, creating a doubled comic effect. After this, Maria leaves through the right door, leaving behind the glasses of wine with the three men, exiting from the stage on the right.
Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are left standing there, in awe. As for Feste, he is lying on the long table in the room, holding on to his instrument. Sir Toby keeps praising Maria, and smiles dreamily in the process. The audience notice his growing admiration for Maria, and this brings forth a sense of growing love between two characters, reinforcing the romance of the play. The idea that Sir Andrew is a puppet of Sir Toby is re-emphasized when Sir Toby says, “Come, knight; come, knight.” In this line, Sir Toby reaches his hand out and produces an action symbolising, “COME”, wiggling his fingers, and says these lines impatiently, as if Sir Andrew should be quicker in his obeying. They leave through the right door and walk in a drunkard manner, after drinking the wine Maria served earlier. They exit the stage on the right. Feste remains silent all this wild, lying lazily on the long table, and the scene ends off with him humming. The spotlight is brought towards Feste. The reason for his silence throughout Maria’s explanation of her plan is perhaps that he is observing the exchange between Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria. He hums a cheery tune as he realises that Maria is going to get back at Malvolio, who had earlier insulted him. The scene ends with the light slowly dimming and completely going off, with Feste’s humming in the background.
All in all, for this scene, the characters are dressed each according to their personality, for instance, Feste in colourful clothing, while Malvolio in dull-coloured pyjamas, to show forth a contrast between ‘outcast’ Malvolio and accepted Feste. This applies to the others, for example, Maria, who is dressed in dull colours to associate her with her ‘mourning’ mistress, and yet add a hint of brightness to signify that she is part of the group of friends. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, in turn are also dressed in gay colours as they like to socialise and bright colours suit this kind of personality. Hence, the dressing for the characters is important in setting the right impression from the audience.
Next, is Act 3 Scene 1. This scene is set near the church, in a small garden. Viola enters at the right (to the audience), and Feste enters at the left side (to the audience). The stage is set such that there is a bench on the left (to the audience) and some flowers and plants situated around the stage to create the garden effect. The scene starts with the music of a church bell; to show that the church is rather near the place Feste and Viola are at. The lights are gradually brightened at Feste’s entrance. Feste enters first, and sits himself on the ground in the middle on the stage, playing his pipe and tabor. The tune he plays is cheerful and fun loving. He is dressed in another colourful clothing to show his personality as a cheerful ‘fool’ and has a few bells attached to this set of clothing, making it all jingly and sets the light-hearted tone for the beginning of the scene. Once seated, he stares up into the sky (ceiling), when Viola comes in from the right (to the audience). She is dressed with an overcoat, to hide her female features, and has a short boyish hairstyle. Her dressing is in dark colours, showing that she is still in a dilemma, and hence the dark colours to display her emotions. She also does not wear bright colours, as she believes that bright colours would only further more emphasize on her feminine nature. In the whole exchange, both Viola and Feste speak in a sarcastic but interested tone. Viola sits herself on the bench, and crosses her leg (in a lady-like manner). Feste notices it, and playfully perches his hand on her knees, in a testing manner. Viola realises and quickly changes her posture and shakes Feste’s hand off.
The initial exchange between the two start off sarcastically, but slowly, they start to speak in a more interested and warm tone, as they realise the opposite’s high level of intellect. At, “Not so, sir. I do care for something; but in my conscience, sir, I do not care for you”, Feste puts on a face with a tinge of hurt in his face, but quickly puts it away. The audience notice the melancholic side of Feste, and see the twist of a fool (not what he seems). Shakespeare quickly balances this side of the play of comedy, with the following parts being funny. Viola drags out her purse, and gives Feste a coin, then another. Feste ends off with, “Who you are and what you would are out of my welkin”, and strolls off nonchalantly in the direction he came out from (left side), whistling a happy tune. As Feste exits, the cheerful tone seems to leave with him, as the brightness of his dressing together with the light-hearted tune leaves with him. The lights are slightly dimmed once again to show that a ‘bright’ and fun person has left.
Next, the audience hear Viola’s soliloquy of her opinion towards Feste, and are impressed at her analytical mind. Here, she stands in the centre of the stage, and the spotlight is on her. The audience notice the emphasis and listen to her analysis of Feste, and are brought to a point of, “For folly that he wisely shows is fit”, and are convinced that fools such as Feste are never what they seem. Suddenly a background music that is soft starts playing. The background music is slow but gives a mysterious feel to show the uncertainty of the future. At this moment, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew enter. The spotlight is already switched off, and the stage lights switched on concurrently. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are as usual dressed in the same way – bright-coloured socialite clothing. Viola and Sir Toby talk to each other. Here, Sir Andrew keeps walking back and forth, from Viola to Sir Toby and back. This is to imply that he does not understand what they are talking about (as they are playing with words) and just sticks around to seem as if he really understands. He keeps silent this whole while.
Following this, Olivia and Maria enter. Here, Olivia is dressed in bright colours, in contrary to her supposed mood (mourning). Maria is also dressed likewise, as she does not go against her mistress. This dressing implies that Olivia dresses in this manner to impress Viola (Cesario). They enter as Viola says, “But we are prevented.” Then, Viola turns to Olivia and bows slightly. Sir Andrew stands near to these two, and holds a notebook in hand, readily copying down any smart statements anyone makes. This produces a comical effect. Then, Olivia commands everyone to leave, “Let the garden door be shut, and leave me to my hearing”. She says this in a quick manner, waving frantically for all to leave, to leave her alone with Viola. Sir Toby and Maria leave the stage, while Sir Andrew seems to be unwilling, and lingers. Olivia gives him a hard stare, and immediately, Sir Andrew scatters off. Once again, a comic effect is produced to add humour to the scene.
Thereafter, Viola and Olivia are left alone on the stage. The stage lights dim, and the spotlight is brought to these two characters. They are on the centre of the stage. The surrounding plants seem to emphasize on the two more. The music plays slightly louder at this point, giving emphasis to this moment. As they speak, Olivia subconsciously moves closer and closer towards Viola, while Viola helplessly steps backwards. Throughout their exchange, Olivia speaks with much emotion, waving her hands expressively, and looking very pitiable. Viola in turn speaks with a firm tone, rejecting Olivia. Many a times, Olivia, with her anxiety, and disinterest in Orsino, interrupts Viola. Then, Viola quickly says, “Dear lady” as she realises where Olivia is getting to, but is once again interrupted. As Viola tells Olivia, “I pity you”, Olivia quickly goes on to say, “That’s a degree to love”. She says this quickly, and rushes this out of her mouth. The audience sense the intensity of Olivia’s infatuation, and pity Viola in a way. Here, the theme of “Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness” is seen, as Viola is trapped in a dilemma and is very much in distress.
The music stops abruptly, and the clock strikes loudly, awakening everyone. Olivia seems to have given up and asks Viola to leave. Viola seizes the opportunity and gets ready to leave. Then, the mysterious music before starts playing again, louder this time. The audience sense that there would be something more to it, and indeed, Olivia screams, “Stay!” She runs towards Viola who is near the exit of the stage and pulls her back to the centre of the stage. The next part of their exchange is Olivia’s confrontation and Viola’s rejection (once more). However, the music plays even louder, and at the end of the scene, Olivia holds tightly onto Viola’s hand and says; “Yet come again; for thou perhaps mayst move/ That heart, which now abhors, to like this love.” The scene ends off on a tone of uncertainty. The two characters exit while the music gradually softens along with the closing off of the spotlight.
Some of the possible challenges that I would face directing this play for a modern audience would be as follows. Firstly, portraying the original play with its true flavour, and attracting and targeting a modern audience at the same time would prove to be challenging. This is so as many people in the modern society do not normally come in contact with Shakespearean language, or old English per se. Hence, bringing a play to them in such language would cause many to peer at the actors in a confused manner and not comprehend their rich language. For this play, I would insist on keeping the original language, as I believe that Shakespeare has his purpose in his choice of words, and paraphrasing any of his words would spoil the overall effect of the play. Hence, my challenge would be allowing the audience to comprehend and feel the overall effect, even if they miss some parts due to an inability to understand the language. This could be made possible through good and coordinated actions from the actors, and the actors being able to bring forth the true self of each character. The lighting, dressing and usage of the stage space would also play a big part. Props would also prove to be important in creating the overall atmosphere of the play.
Secondly would be connecting the play to a modern context, in the sense of allowing the audience to be able to see the play in new light and see the connection between their lives and the play. The play in itself holds many themes such as love, disguise and many others. Thus, the challenges come in giving emphasis to the different themes and bringing the audience’s attention to these hidden messages.
Next, a challenge would be bringing out the comedy of the play, and at the same time, show the dark moments (underlying tone) without spoiling the overall mood. This is however made simpler with Shakespeare’s good use of the ‘see-saw’ method, balancing off the dark moments with comical and humorous ones. This lightens off the mood and allows the play to fit its name of “What you will” which gives the impression of a carefree and light-hearted tone. Shakespeare also ends off with Feste singing “But that’s all one, our play is done/And we’ll strive to please you every day.” This ends off the play in a light tone, and informs the audience that after all, this is a play, and the purpose is to entertain, and pushes away the doubts and feelings of darkness, and brings forth the carefree tone of the play. Overall, this challenge still stands in the sense of showing Shakespeare’s ‘see-saw’ method in its best light.
Another challenge that I think I would face in directing this play would be making the costumes fit the Elizabethan times, yet attracting the modern audience and adding a personal touch to display the play in a way impressing to a modern audience, whom I believe like to watch plays which attract them at first glance. Hence, the clothing could be modern cum Elizabethan, creating an interesting mix.
Yet another challenge would be keeping the audience engaged and have continued interest in the show, so as to bring the show to them fully and meaningfully. This is important as if the audience cannot stay focused, the overall effect may be affected. Hence, perhaps the actors could engage the audience with eye contact and stand in such a way as to not have their backs face the audience (unless completely necessary).
All in all, directing the play of Twelfth Night to a modern audience proves to be a challenging task, but possible with perseverance in keeping the overall comedy-romantic genre of the play.
