Are Cesario and Viola “cross-dressed” or trans characters? Does Duke Orsino marry Cesario or Viola, and is the un-staged wedding a heterosexual or queer one? In what ways does Twelfth Night depict trans and queer trauma?

Twelfth Night is unique among Shakespearean comedies. It involves a journey of self-discovery in an elsewhere, but it does not depict any sort of returning to where the characters purportedly come from. The gender binary has diminishing returns in this story, as genderplay seems to be the name of the game. It is serious business to be playful with gender.

Join Professor Alexa Alice Joubin to explore these intriguing questions before seeing the Folger Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night.