by William Shakespeare
A pair of twins, separated in a shipwreck... each believes the other dead.
Viola and Sebastian try to start a new life in Illyria – they meet local inhabitants, and soon both are involved in intrigues of love, jealousy and mistaken identity. Only when the twins are reunited is the story complete, and love finds a way to bring the right couples together.
For four centuries audiences have laughed at the love-obsessed Orsino, the drunken Sir Toby, the proud Olivia, the vain servant Malvolio and the foolish Sir Andrew. Now Shakespeare's most popular comedy has been abridged for school audiences – retaining the original poetry, and shortening the story so that a performance lasts about 80 minutes.
Photos of 'Twelfth Night'
Extract from the script 'Twelfth Night'
| Viola: | Ay, but I know - |
| Duke Orsino: | What dost thou know? |
| Viola: | Too well what love women to men may owe: In faith, they are as true of heart as we. My father had a daughter loved a man, As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman, I should your lordship. |
| Duke Orsino: | And what's her history? |
| Viola: | A blank, my lord. She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek: she pined in thought, And with a green and yellow melancholy She sat like patience on a monument, Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed? We men may say more, swear more: but indeed Our shows are more than will; for still we prove Much in our vows, but little in our love. |
| Duke Orsino: | But died thy sister of her love, my boy? |
| Viola: | I am all the daughters of my father's house, And all the brothers too: and yet I know not. |