Source: "Preface to Twelfth Night" in Prefaces to Shakespeare, Vol. VI, B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1974, pp. 26-32.

[In an essay originally published in 1912, Granville. Barker offers his vision for Twelfth Night as a director, beginning by describing what he believes was Shake speare's intention for the set and how he may have Written some parts such as Feste and Maria for specific actors. Barker also discusses the way he thinks Shakespeare constructed the play, suggesting that he may have originally intended a different outcome, and that on the Elizabethan stage, Viola/Cesario would have been played by a young boy, not a girl. He describes the casting choices Shakespeare may have made for other characters, including Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Fabian, Feste and Antonio and in conclusion, describes the prose and verse of the play, defending his position that Elizabethan prose should be spoken quickly.]

[Twelfth Night...