<p>Episode 199:&nbsp;</p><br><p>The line I have used for the title of today’s episode is spoken by Feste the fool, a central character in ‘Twelfth Night’.&nbsp;&nbsp;Fools have already played significant roles in Shakespeare’s previous plays and as you will hear there are possible connections between them and Feste, but significant as he is, and fools will be in forthcoming Shakespeare plays, there is so much more to Twelfth Night than just that one character.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is a play where other Shakespearean comedic characteristics also feature – identical twins, empowered and quick-witted women, variants on the braggart soldier character, and an exotic, virtually mystical, setting, spring to mind.&nbsp;&nbsp;If ever there was a comedy where Shakespeare was completely in his stride then this, for me, is the one.</p><br><p>The early performance history of the play</p><br><p>The dating of the play</p><br><p>The early print history of the play</p><br><p>The sources for the play</p><br><p>The establishing of social roles in the play</p><br><p>The positions of the knights Sir Toby and Sir Andrew</p><br><p>The role of Feste, the fool.</p><br><p>The impact of Feste’s songs</p><br><p>Feste as a portrait of Thomas Nashe</p><br><p>The centrality of Malvolio to the themes of the play</p><br><p>Feste’s sung epilogue to the play</p><br><p>Love, desire and infatuation in the play</p><br><p>The play as a knowingly theatrical story</p><br><p>The performance history of the play</p><br><p>Some of the critical reaction to the play</p><p>&nbsp;</p><br><p><br></p><p>Link to Rachel Aanstad’s ‘A Bawdy Twelfth Night’ for UK customers:</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Dramaturgical-Shakespearean-Encyclopedias-Handbooks/dp/B0BT2DZGTK/ref=sr_1_1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Dramaturgical-Shakespearean-Encyclopedias-Handbooks/dp/B0BT2DZGTK/ref=sr_1_1</a></p><br><p>Link to Rachel Aanstad’s ‘A Bawdy Twelfth Night’ for US customers:</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Dramaturgical-Shakespearean-Encyclopedias-Handbooks/dp/B0BT2DZGTK/ref=sr_1_1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Dramaturgical-Shakespearean-Encyclopedias-Handbooks/dp/B0BT2DZGTK/ref=sr_1_1</a></p><br><p><br></p><p>Support the podcast at:</p><p><a href="http://www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com</a></p><p><a href="http://www.patreon.com/thoetp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.patreon.com/thoetp</a></p><p><a href="http://www.ko-fi.com/thoetp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.ko-fi.com/thoetp</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>