Which Shakespeare play has twins in it?
Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) falls in love with Duke ...
What are the top 10 Shakespeare plays?
Shakespeare's plays, listed alphabetically by title List plays by genre word count speech count date. All's Well That Ends Well (1602) Antony and Cleopatra (1606) As You Like It (1599) Comedy of Errors (1589) Coriolanus (1607) Cymbeline (1609) Hamlet (1600) Henry IV, Part I (1597) Henry IV, Part II (1597)
Which of Shakespeare's children were twins?
Shakespeare's Children Daughter: Susanna Shakespeare (born in 1583) Daughter: Judith Shakespeare (twin, born in 1585) Son: Hamnet Shakespeare (twin, born in 1585)
What was it like watching a play by Shakespeare?
When we read or watch a Shakespeare play, we must read the language and imagine the performance as having a natural quality as trying to imitate life. This doesn’t mean the plays always have to seem realistic— A Midsummer Night’s Dream has fairies in it, Macbeth and Hamlet have ghosts, The Tempest has spirits, and many of the comedies depend upon absurdly unrealistic plots.
Who are the twins in Twelfth Night?
In Twelfth Night, however, he dials back the number but cranks up the complexity. Viola and Sebastian may be twins (of course, the idea of biological twinship is only referenced once in the the play–when Sebastian recounts to Antonio that Sebastian and his sister were “both born in an hour” [II.
Which Shakespeare play has 2 sets of identical twin brothers with the same names?
Set in the Greek city of Ephesus, The Comedy of Errors tells the story of two sets of identical twins who were accidentally separated at birth.
Who are the twins in comedy of errors?
Set in the city of Ephesus, The Comedy of Errors concerns the farcical misadventures of two sets of identical twins. Many years earlier, the Syracusan merchant Egeon had twin sons, both named Antipholus. At their birth, he bought another pair of newborn twins, both named Dromio, as their servants.
What is the story of comedy of errors?
After both being separated from their twins in a shipwreck, Antipholus and his slave Dromio go to Ephesus to find them. The other set of twins lives in Ephesus, and the new arrivals cause a series of incidents of mistaken identity.
How many of Shakespeare's plays have twins?
two playsThere's really only two plays that contain twins of any kind, and only three sets of twins in total.
What is the story of King Lear?
Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lear's older daughters, give their father flattering answers.
What is the moral of The Comedy of Errors?
The Comedy of Errors themes: The main themes of this play is family loyalties, persistence, identity and coincidence. As in all Shakespeare's plays, the theme of love and the relationships between men and women is prominent.
Which Shakespeare play is the shortest?
The Comedy of ErrorsThe Comedy of Errors, with 1,898 lines (as per the Folger Shakespeare Edition; other editions may count lines differently).
Who are the main characters of The Comedy of Errors?
Antipholus of SyracuseDromio of SyracuseAntipholus of EphesusEgeonDoctor PinchSecond MerchantThe Comedy of Errors/Characters
What is the story of Cymbeline?
Cymbeline is the King of Britain. He marries an unpleasant woman who has an arrogant son called Cloten. Cymbeline arranges the marriage of his beautiful daughter, Imogen, to Cloten but she defies him and marries the poor but worthy Posthumus Leonatus in secret. Cymbeline banishes Posthumus, who goes to Rome.
What is the plot of The Merry Wives of Windsor?
Falstaff decides to fix his financial woe by seducing the wives of two wealthy merchants. The wives find he sent them identical letters and take revenge by playing tricks on Falstaff when he comes calling.
Who ruled over England before Shakespeare wrote Macbeth?
Macbeth was most likely written in 1606, early in the reign of James I, who had been James VI of Scotland before he succeeded to the English throne in 1603.
What type of play is Twelfth Night?
model Shakespearean comedyTwelfth Night can be considered a model Shakespearean comedy in that it employs nearly every feature of the genre: a wedding, mistaken identities, misunderstandings, physical comedy, and a happy ending.
Who are the main characters in the comedy of errors?
Antipholus of SyracuseDromio of SyracuseAntipholus of EphesusEgeonDoctor PinchSecond MerchantThe Comedy of Errors/Characters
How many Shakespeare sonnets are there?
154 sonnetsIn the 1609 quarto, following Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, is printed a long poem titled 'A Lover's Complaint'.
How many Shakespeare plays did he write?
Shakespeare wrote at least 38 plays and over 150 short and long poems, many of which are considered to be the finest ever written in English.
Who staged the Twelfth Night?
20th and 21st century. Influential productions were staged in 1912, by Harley Granville-Barker, and in 1916, at the Old Vic . Poster advertising performances of Twelfth Night by Yale University Dramatic Association, New Haven, Connecticut, 1921.
Who played Olivia in Shakespeare's Globe?
The company of Shakespeare's Globe, London, has produced many notable, highly popular all-male performances, and a highlight of their 2002 season was Twelfth Night, with the Globe's artistic director Mark Rylance playing the part of Olivia.
What is the 12th night?
Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) falls in love with Duke Orsino, ...
What is the subtitle of the play "Twelfth Night"?
Subtitles for plays were fashionable in the Elizabethan era, and though some editors place The Merchant of Venice ' s alternative title, The Jew of Venice, as a subtitle, this is the only Shakespeare play to bear one when first published.
What was the actual Elizabethan festival of the 12th night?
The actual Elizabethan festival of Twelfth Night would involve the antics of a Lord of Misrule, who before leaving his temporary position of authority, would call for entertainment, songs, and mummery; the play has been regarded as preserving this festive and traditional atmosphere of licensed disorder.
Why is the 12th Night a gender issue?
Some modern scholars believe that Twelfth Night, with the added confusion of male actors and Viola's deception, addresses gender issues "with particular immediacy". They also accept that the depiction of gender in Twelfth Night stems from the era's prevalent scientific theory that females are simply imperfect males.
Who played Malvolio in Twelfth Night?
In March 2017, the Royal National Theatre 's production of Twelfth Night changed some of the roles from male to female, including Feste, Fabian (which became Fabia), and most notably, Malvolio – which became Malvolia – played by Tamsin Greig to largely positive reviews.
Who played Aegon in The Twins?
The Twins, by Thomas Hull produced an adaptation for Covent Garden in 1739, where Hull played Aegon. This production was more faithful to Shakespeare's text, and played for several years. This adaptation performed only once in 1762, and was published in 1770. Hull adapted the play a second time as The Comedy of Errors.
When was the movie "Too Many Twins" made?
A film adaptation was released in 1940 . A New Comedy of Errors, or Too Many Twins (1940), adapted from Plautus, Shakespeare, and Molière, staged in modern dress at London's Mercury Theatre. The Comedy of Errors (1972) adaptation by James McCloskey, music and lyrics by Bruce Kimmel.
Who adapted the play The Comedy of Errors?
Hull adapted the play a second time as The Comedy of Errors. With Alterations from Shakespeare. This version was staged frequently from 1779 onward, and was published in 1793. Hull added songs, intensified the love interest, and elaborated the recognition scene.
Overview
Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) falls in love with the Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love w…
Characters
• Viola – a shipwrecked young woman who disguises herself as a page named Cesario
• Sebastian – Viola's twin brother
• Duke Orsino – Duke of Illyria
• Olivia – a wealthy countess
Synopsis
Viola is shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria and she comes ashore with the help of a Captain. She has lost contact with her twin brother, Sebastian, whom she believes to be drowned, and with the aid of the Captain, she disguises herself as a young man under the name Cesario and enters the service of Duke Orsino. Duke Orsino has convinced himself that he is in love with Olivia, who is mourni…
Setting
Illyria, the exotic setting of Twelfth Night, is important to the play's romantic atmosphere.
Illyria was an ancient region of the Western Balkans whose coast (the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea which is the only part of ancient Illyria which is relevant to the play) covered (from north to south) the coasts of modern-day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania. It included the city-state of the Republic of Ragusa which has been proposed as the …
Sources
The play is believed to have drawn extensively on the Italian production Gl'ingannati (or The Deceived Ones), collectively written by the Accademia degli Intronati in 1531. It is conjectured that the name of its male lead, Orsino, was suggested by Virginio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, an Italian nobleman who visited London in the winter of 1600 to 1601.
Another source story, "Of Apollonius and Silla", appeared in Barnabe Riche's collection, Riche his …
Date and text
The full title of the play is Twelfth Night, or What You Will. Subtitles for plays were fashionable in the Elizabethan era, and though some editors place The Merchant of Venice's alternative title, The Jew of Venice, as a subtitle, this is the only Shakespeare play to bear one when first published.
The play was probably finished between 1600 and 1601, a period suggested b…
Themes
Viola is not alone among Shakespeare's cross-dressing heroines; in Shakespeare's theatre, convention dictated that adolescent boys play the roles of female characters, creating humour in the multiplicity of disguise found in a female character who for a while pretended at masculinity. Her cross dressing enables Viola to fulfil usually male roles, such as acting as a messenger betwe…
Performance history
Twelfth Night, or What You Will (to give the play its full title) was probably commissioned for performance as part of the Twelfth Night celebrations held by Queen Elizabeth I at Whitehall Palace on 6 January 1601 to mark the end of the embassy of the Italian diplomat, the Duke of Orsino. It was again performed at Court on Easter Monday in 1618 and on Candlemas night in 1623.
Overview
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is, along with The Tempest, one of only two Shakespeare plays to observe the Aristotelian principle of unity of time—that is, that the eve…
Adaptations
Like many of Shakespeare's plays, The Comedy of Errors was adapted and rewritten extensively, particularly from the 18th century on, with varying reception from audiences.
• Every Body Mistaken is a 1716 "revival" and directorial adaptation of Shakespeare's play by an anonymous author.
Characters
• Solinus – Duke of Ephesus
• Egeon – A merchant of Syracuse – father of the Antipholus twins
• Emilia – Antipholus' lost mother – wife to Egeon
• Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse – twin brothers, sons of Egeon and Emilia
Synopsis
Act I
Because a law forbids merchants from Syracuse to enter Ephesus, elderly Syracusian trader Egeon faces execution when he is discovered in the city. He can only escape by paying a fine of a thousand marks. He tells his sad story to Solinus, Duke of Ephesus. In his youth, Egeon married and had twin sons. On the same day, a poor woman without a job also gave birth to twin boys, a…
Text and date
The play is a modernized adaptation of Menaechmi by Plautus. As William Warner's translation of the classical drama was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on 10 June 1594, published in 1595, and dedicated to Lord Hunsdon, the patron of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, it has been supposed that Shakespeare might have seen the translation in manuscript before it was print…
Analysis and criticism
For centuries, scholars have found little thematic depth in The Comedy of Errors. Harold Bloom, however, wrote that it "reveals Shakespeare's magnificence at the art of comedy", and praised the work as showing "such skill, indeed mastery – in action, incipient character, and stagecraft – that it far outshines the three Henry VI plays and the rather lame comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona". Stanley Wells also referred to it as the first Shakespeare play "in which mastery of craft i…
Performance
Two early performances of The Comedy of Errors are recorded. One, by "a company of base and common fellows", is mentioned in the Gesta Grayorum ("The Deeds of Gray") as having occurred in Gray's Inn Hall on 28 December 1594 during the inn's revels. The second also took place on "Innocents' Day", but ten years later: 28 December 1604, at Court.
Further reading
• O'Brien, Robert Viking (1996). "The Madness of Syracusan Antipholus". Early Modern Literary Studies. 2 (1): 3.1–26. ISSN 1201-2459.