Mmmm. There’s emotional intoxication, repressed desire, gender play and desperate infatuation to be found in Shakespeare’s erotic comedy.

After a violent shipwreck the young Viola is cast ashore on an unknown coast in the country of Illyria. Crushed by grief over the loss of her twin brother, whom she believes has drowned, she disguises herself as a man. Under the name Cesario she becomes a servant to Duke Orsino and must suppress her immediate infatuation with the nobleman when she is given the task of passing on his courtship of Countess Olivia. In a twist of irony, the countess eventually falls in deeper and deeper in love with Cesario, who indeed is Viola dressed in menswear.

Faked letters exchange hands and duellists fire blanks. Emotional confusion finally envelops everyone who is duped by Viola’s disguise.

If you were infatuated by last season’s romantic highlight, Romeo and Juliet, you can truly look forward to Reumert Award nominee Therese Willstedt’s take on Shakespeare’s classic. The young Swedish director, who staged Death in the Red Room at the Royal Danish Playhouse during the 2014/15 season, now returns as an in-house director following stage productions in both Frankfurt and Cologne.

Performances are in Danish.

The Bikuben Foundation generously supports the Royal Danish Theatre Drama Department, Eventministeriet and Corpus as well as the general development of the Royal Danish Theatre.