The set is like a formal French Garden of the 17th century. It is like a maze. In the maze, the characters are lost at first and then are found. Talking about confusion, in Twelfth Night, the play centres on a pair of twins, Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as a boy) falls in love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with the Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her, thinking that “Viola”, who calls herself Cesario, is a man.
Confused? You are meant to be.
In Shakespeare’s time, all the female roles were played by boys. This could make a boy playing a girl playing a boy very complex. Shakespeare uses this kind of confusion deliberately. As you will discover, Amanda has added yet another layer of confusion as to who is who or to what is what. Twelfth Night is full of people who are confused, misunderstood or just lost.
This confusion goes to the heart of what “Comedy” in Shakespeare’s time was all about. Then, Comedy was about misunderstandings, or mistaken identities, that are resolved at the end. So don’t worry, for most of the characters, the confusion is happily resolved.
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