Битеф

My Lady D'Arbanville Why do you sleep so still? I’ll wake you tomorrow And you will be my fill, Yes, you will be my fill I.

I loved you my lady Though in your grave you lie, I’ll always be with you This rose will never die, This rose will never die.

(Cat Stevens)

twelfth night

The earliest mention of “Twelfth Night" occurs in the diary of John Manningham, a barrister of the Middle Temple, which Is mow in the British Museum. Under the date 2nd February 1602, he noted; “At our feast we had a play called Twelfth Night or What you Will', much like the Comedy of Errors, or Menechmi In Plautus, but most like and near to that In Italian called Inganni. A good practice iin It to make the Steward believe his Lady widow was in love with him, by counterfeiting a letter as from his Lady in general terms, telling him what she liked best in him, and prescribing his gesture In smiling, his apparel, etc., and then when he came to practiase making him believe they took him to be mad.” The play was a considerable success and was performed before James I and VI long after there had ceased to be any attraction from its novelty, as appears from the following document dated 20th April 1618; “To John Heminges, etc., upon a warrant for presenting two severall playes before his Majesty, on Easter Monday Twelfte Night, they play soe called, and on Easter Tuesday, the Winters Tale." A few years afterwards it seems to have been acted under the title of 'Malvolio'. In his diary in 1622, Herbert records: "At Candlemas, Malvolio was acted at Court by the King’s servants." In 1640, Leonard Digges, In verses describing the most attarctive of Shakespeare’s dramas, also bears witness to the popularity of the play: “The cock-pit, galleries, boxes, all are full, To hear Malvolio, that cross-garter’d gull." The play was also occasionally acted after the Restoration of Charles 11. Charier Burnaby, in the preface to his comedy Love Betray'd, In 1703, asserts that he has taken

part of the tale from Shakespeare's “Thelfth Night”. There are records of fifteen or sixteen revivals of "Twelfth Night” between 1663 and 1813, and in 1820 it was staged at Covent Garden as an opera playing seventeen performances. in this century, the play has proved one of the most popular of the Shakespeare canon in Britain and is constantly in the repertoire of the Royal Shakespeare Company and many other theatres in Europe and the United States of America. Recenty, buth Suzanne Flon and Joan Plowright have acted the double role of the twins Viola and Sebastian, but this is the first time both parts have been played by the same man.

the company

In June 1970, the Citizens ‘Theatre Glasgow, under its Director Giles Havergal, formed a new policy centred on a company whose structure and way of work are unique in Britain. The Company performs in two theatres; a large proscenium theatre, the Citizens', and a small studio theatre, the Close Theatre Club. The Company consists of twenty actors, four directors and three designers, most of whom have worked together for at least three years. All the actors are of similar age, background and experience. All are paid the same, all play parts both large and small. The programme in both theatres during the Company' first seasons has been based on British and foreign classics. Seven plays by Shakespeare have been presented as well as works by Ford, Webster, Vanbrugh and Marlowe; contemporary British writing has been represented by Bond, Orton and Heathcote Williams. The Company has presented four plays by Brecht and several European masterpieces rarely performed in Britain, including Genet’s “THE BALCONY" ' Buchner s “DANTON’S DEATH« and Gogol’s »THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR«. The Company has undertaken two foreign tours. In 1971 they won the Critics' Award at the Wiesbaden May Festival with “TITUS ANDRONICUS". In July 1972 they returned from and extensive and highly successful European tour which included performances of “SAVED" and “ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA" at the Premio Roma. The Company also appeared at the International Theatre Season at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Further performances of "ANTONY AND CLEO-

PATRA" were given in Antwerp as part of the International Dubbel Festival and in Brussels and Hanover. The tour ended with performances in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague as part of the Holland Festival. In 1972 the Company’s productions of “TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT" and “TWELFTH NIGHT” were the principle drama presentations at the Edinburgh International Festival . During their last season, the Close Theatre Club was used for experimental Projects, aimed at developing and exploring the actor/ /actor relationship. These were directed by Steven Dartneli, and the scripts used as a basis for the Projects included "LEAR", “MARAT SADE” (Weiss), “THE CONNECTION" (Gelber) and »THE FATHER" (Strindberg). giles havergal

(director) was born in Edinburgh and returned to Scotland in 1969 as Artistic Director of the Citizens' Theatre. In 1970 he formulated a new policy for the theatre and formed the present Company. He has directed many of their productions Including a controverusial “HAMLET", Bond's “EARLY MORNING”, Genet's “THE BALCONY” Webster’s “THE WHITE DEVIL” and the production of "ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA” which toured to four European Arts Festivals last year. Before coming to Glasgow, Giles Havergal ran the highly successful theatre at Watford, where his work included the British Premiere of Tennessee Williams' “SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH” with Vivien Merchant and a production of “THE HOMECOMING" in which Harold Pinter himself played the leading part. He came into the theatre from Oxford University and was for a short time an actor on stage and television.

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