Malvolio Within to Malvolia Out: Escaping Heteronormativity in Twelfth Night

Abstract

ABSTRACT Malvolio and his yellow stockings have entertained audiences since the first known production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and his punishment is often seen as “festive abuse” as defined by Albert Labriola, a way of curing him of his folly within the comic mode. Drawing on the cultural context of the play and its performance history, I examine the impact of regendering the role by comparing film versions of two 2017 theatre productions in which female actors were cast as Olivia’s steward: Katy Owen playing Malvolio in Emma Rice’s production at Shakespeare’s Globe and Tamsin Greig playing Malvolia in Simon Godwin’s production at the National Theatre. Both productions emphasise comic excess, with Rice embracing the idea of Malvolio’s punishment as redemptive and showing his final reintegration into the playworld. In contrast, the celebratory mood in Godwin’s production is undercut by the outing of Malvolia’s lesbian desire for her mistress. Her anguish is obvious during her imprisonment and reveals both the limits of festive abuse and a comic world dependent on repressive heteronormativity. This has the potential to make Malvolia a tragic figure; instead, she is shown to have the courage to escape this suffocating world in the final scene.