Last performed in 2006
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Synopsis
Duke Orsino pines for the love of the beautiful Countess Olivia. She, however, is not interested and uses her mourning of the recent deaths of her father and brother as an excuse to refuse even to see the Duke's messengers.
Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are separated during a shipwreck, and each believes the other has drowned. Finding herself in Illyria, Viola disguises herself as Cesario, a page, and enters the service of Duke Orsino in hopes of discovering the condition of her estate since the shipwreck. Orsino thinks his new page may succeed where others have failed and sends Cesario to court Olivia for him. Olivia gives audience to this messenger and falls in love—not with the Duke but with Cesario. As Cesario reports on the interviews with Olivia, Viola finds herself falling in love with Orsino.
Meanwhile, Sebastian has been saved from the shipwreck by Antonio and decides to seek his fortune in Illyria. In Illyria he is mistaken for Cesario, even by Olivia. Antonio, falling on the wrong side of the law, mistakenly asks Cesario for help and is astonished when he is refused.
Unlike most Shakespearean subplots, in this play the doings of "the lighter people" often overshadow the main plot. Olivia disapproves of the profligate lifestyle of her uncle, Sir Toby Belch, and also of the foolish Sir Andrew Aguecheek, whom Sir Toby has introduced as her suitor. During a noisy late-night party, Olivia sends her officious steward, Malvolio, to warn Sir Toby that she will not tolerate his merrymaking. Maria, Olivia's attendant, with the encouragement of the others, then plays a trick on the ambitious steward. Knowing that he has visions of becoming Count Malvolio by marrying Olivia, Maria forges a letter in Olivia's hand by which the steward is set up for one of the most memorable practical jokes in all of Shakespeare.
Sir Andrew, realizing that Olivia is not interested in him—but in Cesario—decides to leave; but Sir Toby and Fabian, in jest, persuade Sir Andrew that if he can beat Cesario, Olivia will be his. Sir Andrew, the braggart, reveals his true nature when he attempts to engage in a duel with Cesario.
This play is called Twelfth Night probably because it was first performed before Queen Elizabeth at the traditional close of the holiday season, the twelfth night after Christmas, in 1601. Many of the lines and events in the play point to specific situations and people who were present at the premiere—Olivia is a flattering stage portrait of Queen Elizabeth; a distant relative of hers, one Duke Orsino, was visiting the court at the time; one of Elizabeth's stewards was having trouble because of his social climbing—to mention but a few.
This is the only Shakespearean play to have a subtitle, and it is thought that What You Will is probably the title the author intended. A modern paraphrase might read "whatever you please." And audiences have been pleased to play along for almost 400 years. What is it about Shakespeare's Illyria that so thoroughly pleases? Is it the quintessential practical joke practiced by a man named "belch" upon an insufferable snob? Is it the seemingly endless maze of sticky situations a girl dressed as a boy may face? Or is it the pleasant reminder this play offers that human sadness can turn to joy and delight in a single moment? Yes, yes, and yes. The fanciful land of Illyria does not exist in a specific time and place in history. Rather, it exists in the human heart—where any of us might wish to come up with the perfect practical joke or imagine brilliant escapes from preposterous situations and where all of us hope for the lasting fulfillment of love.
The play also pleases because it makes us laugh. It's good for what ails us because, as the wisest man who ever lived put it, "a merry heart doeth good like a medicine."