Day 13: Random and uninspired...you're welcome

Source: itv.com

I'm feeling a little uninspired at the moment. I know that Twelfth Night is filled with frivolity and hijinks, but I'm just not feeling it. It's not that I dislike it, I just find it doesn't read well on the page. It's like reading a book of jokes. It's just not the same as going to a comedy club, is it? 

I thought about blogging about some of the "condensed Shakespeare" videos I had come across, but most of them weren't very good and still felt FAR too long. Surely there's a "Complete Works in 2 minutes" out there? If not, I set the challenge!

The above image is--yes, you guessed it--not from Shakespeare but from Downton Abbey. I was a little confused why Twelfth Night has a line about "what midsummer madness is this" and I wondered if the play even took place during the twelfth day of Christmas, or the day before the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6th). Turns out, in England the Eve of the Epiphany (or "twelfth night") was long considered a night of revelry, particularly for servants, fools and courtiers, which totally fits with the theme of the play. All of the really interesting stuff goes on in the side stories with Olivia's maids, footmen and house guests and is much funnier (and bawdier) than the main story about the love triangle and the gender confusion.

Then it got me thinking, is the Servants' Ball on Downton Abbey actually a reference to this tradition of pre-Epiphany revelry? It's featured in the Christmas Special at the end of Season 2 and then again in the Christmas Special at the end of Season 3 (I don't want to say too much for those who haven't watched Season 3 yet, but the Christmas Special takes place in Scotland and that ball is actually called the Gillies' Ball).

Instead of doing further research, I decided to just slap on a picture of Maggie Smith and Rob James-Collier and go re-watch Downton Abbey instead. I'll read Shakespeare tomorrow!