Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, first performed around 1600, probably at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, is the tale of separated brother and sister twins – Sebastian and Viola – and their love entanglements. The play is considered one of Shakespeare’s best-loved and most-admired comedies: Modern audiences, critics and directors are attuned to its delicate counterpointing of romance and realism, to its ambivalent ending and to the poetic suggestiveness of Feste’s songs. Twelfth Night is festive in spirit, and thus suits its title’s suggestion of the celebrations marking the last night of the Christmas season. The alternative title – ‘What You Will’ – also implies a mood of careless mischief, even misrule.