Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare, 1601

A wonderful comedy, subtitled What you Will is a classic comedy of mistaken identity and unrequited love.  The Duke of Orsino loves Olivia who refuses to consider him as she is in mourning for her father and brother.  Viola is washed ashore in Illyria and in order to avoid being propositioned by men, she takes on the identity of Cesario and becomes an aide to Orsino, trying to get Olivia to accept the Duke’s love.  Olivia falls in love with Cesario (Viola) while Viola (Cesario) falls in love with the Duke.  Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother, presumed drowned shows up and sorts out the whole confusion as Olivia ends up with Sebastian and Viola ends up with Orsino.  Meanwhile, Maria, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Fabian and Feste, the Fool, play a marvelous joke on Malvolio.  All ends well except that Malvolio is angry.   Read before seeing a wonderful production in NYC on 1/14/14.