Twelfth Night

Shakespeare’s fanciful comedy of unrequited love bends gender and delights in disguise in this strikingly current production. The Shakespeare Festival of LA presents Twelfth Night at the peak of their free Shakespeare in the park festival. The show will be performed under the evening sky in Downtown LA’s Pershing Square.

Set in an ocean community very like LA’s own Venice Beach, the light-hearted story begins in the aftermath of a wild sea storm, during which devoted twins Viola and Sebastian have been shipwrecked and separated. A circle of lovesickness begins when Viola, posing as a young man, falls hopelessly in love with her employer, Orsino, who is in turn, in love with the local beauty Olivia, who finds herself in love with the masquerading Viola. The story ends happily for almost all, as love is requited and the previously parted are joyfully reunited.

The show will also be performed later in the month at the South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes.