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John Yorke explores one of Shakespeare's best loved comedies, Twelfth Night. In the first of two episodes, he untangles a complex plot and shows how we can still find it funny. But is it really a comedy?

John finds sadness behind the laughter in a play that ends with a melancholic song as the rain begins to fall. We're introduced to characters who fall in love with each other in a confusion of misplaced desire. Viola is shipwrecked in a strange land and has lost her twin brother Sebastian. She disguises herself as a man before she meets the Duke of Illyria, who is himself in love with the Countess Olivia. It's the beginnings of a love triangle rich in comedic moments. Twelfth Night is a play in which desire and disguise lead to confusion and chaos, only to be resolved in a happy ever after love story. Well, almost.

John shares a lifetime of experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the secrets behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatized in Â鶹Éç Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. He has been working in television and radio for nearly 30 years.

From East Enders to the Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book ‘Into the Woods’. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of Â鶹Éç Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful Â鶹Éç Writers Academy John has trained a generation of screenwriters - his students have had 17 green-lights in the last two years alone.

Contributors:
Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford
Dominic Dromgoole, Theatre director
Tamsin Greig, who played 'Malvolia' at the National Theatre

Credits:
Clips from Shakespeare on 3: Twelfth Night (April 2012), Â鶹Éç Radio 3 starring Naomi Frederick. Directed By Sally Avens.

Researcher: Nina Semple
Sound Design: Sean Kerwin
Production Manager: Sarah Wright
Producer: Mark Rickards
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael

A Pier production for Â鶹Éç Radio 4