class="">Twelfth Night

Identity confusion, what could be more current and Shakespearean? Almost all the characters in Twelfth Night assume a different identity, which gives rise to confusion, misunderstanding and even love. Everyone deceives and is deceived in turn.

Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are shipwrecked and each believes the other has drowned. Arrived on the shores of Illyria, Viola disguises herself as a man and, under the name Cesario, takes a job as a servant to Duke Orsino.

Orsino is in love with Olivia, but she is in mourning for her brother and has so far rebuffed all his amorous advances. Cesario (Viola) is sent by the Duke to Olivia with his message of love. And Olivia falls in love with the handsome messenger, deceived by Viola’s disguise.

She has, in fact, fallen in love with her master Orsino, who is also confused by her strange feelings for his “servant”. Thus a love triangle is formed in which Viola loves Orsino, who loves Olivia, who loves Cesario/Viola. But how much is love and how much is illusion in these romantic bonds?

Malvolio, Olivia’s butler, is contemptuous of everyone around his mistress – his drunken relative Sir Toby Belch, his friend Sir Andrew, the maid Maria and the jester Feste. They all gang up against Malvolio and play a cruel trick on him.

Viola’s twin brother Sebastian appears, along with Antonio, his savior and protector. Sebastian meets Olivia, who mistakes him for Cesario and proposes marriage. Sebastian accepts and inevitably comes face to face with his double, Cesario – actually his sister, Viola, whom he thought drowned in the shipwreck.

In a tentative happy ending, the confusions of identity dissipate and the love triangle is resolved, transforming into two couples: Sebastian and Olivia, Viola and Orsino.

Only the ending is different, as Malvolio will take revenge on those who mocked him.

Photo: Andrei & Maria Gîndac (Two Bugs)