Other actors famed for their performance of Malvolio include Sir Alec Guinness, Henry Irving, E. H. Sothern, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Henry Ainley, John Gielgud, Simon Russell Beale, Maurice Evans, Ken Dodd, Richard Briers, Sir Nigel Hawthorne and Sir Derek Jacobi.
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Some Shakespearean scholars hypothesize that the character Malvolio was inspired by Puritan landowner Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby, who was involved in a famous court case against many of his Yorkshire neighbours in 1600.
Meanwhile, several of the performers at the Cotton Club are rebelling against the overly serious and tyrannical club manager, Rev.
Malvolio |
Maugham drew his title from the remark of Sir Toby Belch to Malvolio in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night: "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" Cakes and ale are the emblems of the good life in the tagline to the fable attributed to Aesop, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse": "Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear".
He has performed widely, both in Britain and internationally, in roles that have included Shakespeare (Hamlet, Malvolio), Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Ibsen and Noël Coward.