Shakespeare's comedy of gender confusion, in which a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the count she adores, only to be pursued by the woman he loves.
Acting
Helena Bonham Carter's Olivia: devastating widow to thirsty disaster.
Costume
Elizabethan drip that makes corsets look almost breathable.
Direction
Trevor Nunn makes iambic pentameter feel like gossip.
Director
Trevor Nunn
Helena Bonham Carter
Olivia
Richard E. Grant
Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Nigel Hawthorne
Malvolio
Ben Kingsley
Feste
Mel Smith
Sir Toby Belch
Imelda Staunton
Maria
Toby Stephens
Orsino
Imogen Stubbs
Viola
Nicholas Farrell
Antonio
Steven Mackintosh
Sebastian
Sidney Livingstone
Captain
James Walker
Priest
Alan Mitchell
Valentine
Peter Gunn
Fabian
Tim Bentinck
First Officer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Trevor Nunn cut significant dialogue to focus on visual storytelling, including an invented opening shipwreck sequence.
This adaptation emerged during a 1990s boom in accessible Shakespeare films (Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, Branagh's Hamlet), but Nunn's stage background made this the most theatrical of the bunch.
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