Comparing Different Versions Of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

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Comparing Different Versions Of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

I am going to compare different versions of Shakespeare's Twelfth

Night. There have been many cinematic and theatre adaptations of

Twelfth Night through out the years, but I am going to just compare

two. A performance of it I went to see at the Globe theatre in London,

and the 1999 film version starring Helena Bonham Carter.

The theatre version was far more authentic in its dramatisation. They

performed it exactly how it might have been performed in Shakespeare's

time, even performing it in a reproduction of the theatre Shakespeare

used for some of his performances. The fact that they only use men

gives it a less realistic feeling, but does give you more of an idea

of how it might have been performed for the first time. The costumes

are even made in the same way and from the same fabrics that were used

back then. Also, there are no microphones or bright lights to light up

the actors, like there are nowadays.

The cinematic version looks more realistic, but is probably very

different to how it would have been performed originally. The female

characters are played by women, and the male characters by men.

Because they can use lighting effects and different camera angles, we

are able to see more as the characters might see. Not just be sitting

back and seeing all the action from only one angle, which is what we

do when we watch a theatre version of any play.

Something that isn't very easy to compare, is the attractiveness of

the different characters in the different productions, as one

production uses only men. But, in the film version, the four main

characters...

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atmosphere at the performance, something you cant really get when

watching a film or video at home. Although there were parts from the

film version which I preferred to the stage version; such as the sets

and background action, as there was more to look at and more realism,

although that's part of the attraction of watching a live performance,

the different techniques the actors use to show what they are doing.

Or abstract parts that are hard to do credibly in films. Also as the

film version has been recorded it is something you can watch over and

over again, seeing and getting more out of it each time, where in the

stage production you can only see it done that way once, and can only

focus on one bit at a time, so may not see everything the characters

do. However this still doesn't make it the medium I preferred.

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