About the work
William Shakespeare's comedy „Twelfth Night, or What You Will" was probably written in 1601-02 and is one of his three great romantic comedies (alongside „As You Like It" and „Much Ado About Nothing"). The play is among the most-loved Shakespeare comedies and a masterpiece of cross-dressing and confusion.
Plot
On the coast of Illyria. Twins Viola and Sebastian are separated in a shipwreck; each believes the other dead. Viola, washed ashore, disguises herself as the young man „Cesario" and enters the service of Duke Orsino, who is unhappily in love with the noble Olivia. Olivia, in mourning for her dead brother, refuses Orsino but is enchanted by „Cesario" — Viola — whom Orsino sends as messenger. Viola in turn falls in love with Orsino. A second strand: Olivia's drunken uncle Sir Toby Belch, his foolish friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek and the maid Maria play a cruel prank on the puritan steward Malvolio: a forged letter convinces him that Olivia loves him; he appears in absurd yellow stockings and is locked up as a madman. Sebastian arrives in Illyria; Olivia mistakes him for Cesario and marries him. The recognition of the twins resolves all the love confusions: Viola and Orsino, Olivia and Sebastian, Sir Toby and Maria. The fool Feste closes with the wistful song „The rain it raineth every day".
Cultural significance
Twelfth Night is one of the most-performed Shakespeare comedies. The role of Viola — a woman playing a man wooed by a woman — is one of the great female roles. Famous Olivias and Violas include Judi Dench, Imogen Stubbs, Helena Bonham Carter, Tamsin Greig. Trevor Nunn's 1996 film and Tim Carroll's all-male productions (Mark Rylance as Olivia, 2002, 2012) are reference stagings.