One of Shakespeare’s most playful, melancholic, and profoundly human texts, Twelfth Night, is meeting audiences this winter on the Barbican stage in London.
The production, bearing the signature of the Royal Shakespeare Company, comes to the Barbican Theatre—running until January 17, 2026—after a five-star, sold-out season in Stratford-upon-Avon.
UK Theatre Award-winning director Prasanna Puwanarajah revives his production, described by critics as “inspiring and enchanting.” Stage and costume design are by James Cotterill, with lighting by Zoe Spurr & Bethany Gupwell.
Love, Mourning, and the Delicate Balance of Identity
Viola, surviving a shipwreck, finds herself alone on the shores of Illyria. While grieving her presumed lost twin, she disguises her identity as a means of survival and unexpectedly lands in the middle of a love triangle.
Twelfth Night advances through mistaken identities and suppressed desires, telling the complexities of love, loss, and being human through the lens of humor.
Another standout element in this production is the music: Original songs composed by singer-songwriter Matt Maltese nourish the play’s melancholic underlayers with a contemporary sensitivity.
Cast
- Freema Agyeman — Olivia
- Michael Grady-Hall — Feste
- Gwyneth Keyworth — Viola
- Samuel West — Malvolio
- Daniel Monks — Orsino
The characters’ interpretations oscillating between exaggeration and subtlety carry the play into a powerful balance between farce and inner fragility.
Apartment No:26 Note
Twelfth Night is not merely a Shakespeare classic; it remains surprisingly relevant today on the fluidity of identities, the shifting directions of desire, and societal masks. This production transforms the text from “classical” into a contemporary emotional map.
