Page 110 - Shakespeare in the Movie From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love
P. 110
Sophisticated Comedy / 99
"Shooting on location," Alleva insisted, "no matter how stylish
the production values, entails a certain inalienable naturalism which
is at odds with the fairy-tale doings of Twelfth Night." In fact,
Alleva is only half-correct, since Twelfth Night is only half fairy
tale. Illyria exists, like the play itself, midway between the real
world of Renaissance Messina and the enchanted world of the forest
of Arden. A production of pure fantasy like A Midsummer Night's
Dream, if shot in a real forest, would prove disastrous; Much Ado
About Nothing, a social comedy in which reality is never violated, is
perfectly suited to shooting at an actual villa. Since Twelfth Night is
half and half, real settings strike us neither as disastrous nor delight-
ful, rather as acceptable if less than satisfying.
This Twelfth Night never invokes the kind of all-out audience
response (particularly raucous laughter) that Branagh's Much Ado
About Nothing elicits. To be fair, that could be due to the fact that
here Shakespeare opted for sophisticated humor rather than belly
laughs.
