Twelfth Night

In an excerpt from Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare, Will Tosh uses lines from Twelfth Night to trace Sebastian and Antonio’s relationship.

What’s going through Viola’s head as she woos Olivia on Orsino’s behalf? Dame Judi Dench reflects on this key scene in this excerpt from her newly published book.

We ask a few of our favorite Shakespeareans what you should keep an eye out for when you watch Twelfth Night.

“If music be the food of love, play on.” Take this quiz to see if you can correctly order the lines of the opening speech of Twelfth Night, with its memorable reference to a bank of violets.

Austin Tichenor suggests that “Twelfth Night” is the “Hamlet” of the comedies, dealing with loss, separation, and death and using some surprisingly similar elements — but in a far happier way.

Shakespeare characters like Viola and Iago are masters of improvisation, says Folger Director Michael Witmore in this excerpt from the 2017 Shakespeare’s Birthday Lecture.

Park’s Shakspearean Twelfth-Night Characters. Handcolored print, ca. 1830. Folger Shakespeare Library. Twelfth Night is a Christian holiday typically celebrated on January 5 or 6, concluding the 12 days of Christmas and celebrating the visit of the Magi (the three kings). Twelfth…

Folger Finds delivers delightful and insightful moments with the Folger collection. Sarah Hovde, a cataloger at the Folger Shakespeare Library, reveals a 1932 edition of Twelfth Night with beautiful engravings by Eric Ravilious. Twelfth Night, the last of the twelve…

The Twelve Days of Christmas, from December 25 to January 6, was the longest and most enthusiastically celebrated festival in the Elizabethan calendar. On Christmas Eve, people decorated with evergreens, ivy, and holly, burned a Yule log, sang carols, and…