Theatre | The Old Stagers

For their 170th season in Canterbury, the Old Stagers present William Shakespeare's

"Twelfth Night", in The Malthouse, from

Tuesday 1st - Saturday 5th August 2023.

Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere.

(Feste, Act 3 Scene 1)

This year, for their 170th season in Canterbury, the Old Stagers are delighted to perform one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays. Believed to have been written and first performed at the turn of the 17thcentury, Twelfth Night is often regarded as the crème de la crème of all of Shakespeare’s comedies. Woven into this play is a realism that showcases the effects desire, chaos and confusion have in a world, producing a melancholic twist that is seldom seen in comedies. Written as one of his later comedies, Twelfth Night is believed to be a conjuring of all Shakespeare’s guile and skill, creating a play that shines a light on the conditions of human nature and the consequences of our follies.

Set in a land called Illyria, where nothing is truly as it seems, a shipwrecked sister hides her femininity for safety and finds herself working and falling in love with the Count Orsino. Disguised as a boy, she tries to win him the hand of his unrequited love, Lady Olivia, thus causing her ladyship to fall in love with her. This tale is fraught with misplaced affection as a triad of lovers navigate their androgynous heart-raging lusts towards not what they think. Within the play, we meet a drunken uncle, a thick-headed suitor, scheming servants and an outspoken jester, all of whom provide the wit and depth needed to class this play as one of the all-time greats. Oh, and did I mention a pair of cross-gartered yellow stockings? Join us in the first week of August as we travel to Canterbury to tell the tale of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Malthouse Theatre.