Separated from her twin brother Sebastian after a shipwreck, Viola disguises herself as a boy to serve the Duke of Illyria. Wooing a countess on his behalf, she is stunned to find herself the object of his beloved's affections. With the arrival of Viola's brother, and a trick played upon Malvolio, the countess' steward, confusion reigns in this romantic comedy of mistaken identity. The gentle melancholy and lyrical atmosphere of "Twelfth Night", enlivened by a comic sub-plot of considerable accomplishment, have long made the play a favourite with Shakespearian audiences
This is an intense drama of love, deception, jealousy and destruction. Desdemona's love for Othello, the Moor, transcends racial prejudice; but the envious lago conspires to devastate their lives. In its vivid rendering of racism, sexism, contested identities, and the savagery lurking within civilisation, "Othello" is arguably the most topical and accessible tragedy from Shakespeare's major phase as a dramatist. The play raises uncomfortable questions about ongoing questions of not only racial identity but also sexuality, as Othello and Desdemona's sexual relationship becomes the voyeuristic site of lago's attempt to destroy them.
