The first production of Twelfth Night took place in the Middle Temple Hall on 2 February 1602. A London Law Student, John Manningham, saw this production and wrote in his diary:

 

At our feast we had a play called "Twelve Night, or What You Will", much like "The Comedy of Errors" or "Menaechmi" in Plautus, but most like and near to that in Italian called "Inganni". A good practice in it to make the steward believe his lady-widow was in love with him, by counterfeiting a letter as from his lady, in general term telling him what she liked best in him and prescribing his gesture in smiling, his apparel, etc. and then, when he came to practice, making him believe they took him for mad.

 

Manningham clearly swaps the main and the sub-plots of Twelfth Night focusing on Malvolio’s gulling and ignoring Olivia’s bereavement of the loss of her brother and the Olivia, Orsino, Viola love triangle. This may be in part by the comic acting of Malvolio which resulted in later performances of Twelfth Night being named Malvolio.

 

The Stevenage Lytton Players performance will be set on a standard stage with the audience facing in one direction, yet the original performance was set with audience members on either side of the stage. The below photo shows a recent 2002 performance by the Globe company at the Middle Temple.