One of William Shakespeare’s greatest and most exuberant comedies, Twelfth Night, returns to the Cyprus Theatre Organisation’s (THOC) Main Stage 31 years after its first presentation in a provocative new interpretation by British Shakespearean director Owen Horsley.

Translated into Greek by Rea Fragofinou, the play will begin its performances on February 6 with a 13-member cast. The story is set in Illyria, at Olivia’s once cheerful and glittering but now faded seaside bar, where Viola is shipwrecked. Believing her twin brother to be lost, she disguises herself as a man and enters the service of Duke Orsino.

From this point on, the thread of a complex and tangled story begins to unravel, filled with misunderstandings and unexpected turns: Viola is secretly in love with Orsino, he loves Olivia, who mourns her lost brother, and Olivia falls in love with Cesario, who is, in fact, Viola.

The intoxication of love overtakes one character after another, and this new breath of life shakes the foundations of this melancholic community. A group of people concocts schemes, deceives and indulges in games, revealing the alluring yet dark side of amorous transformation.

Horsley’s adaptation marries sorrow and joy in a comic and eccentric creation, where language has two faces, at times serving truth and at others deception. He brings together a talented ensemble of actors and collaborators with the playwright’s imaginative material, in which movement, music and song harmonise with the antics and emotional turbulence of the characters.

The romantic tale of disguises, cross-dressing and fluid identities is transformed into a magnificent celebration of love, overflowing with passion, sensitivity, mystery, laughter, tears, irony and madness.

Twelfth Night

Owen Horsley directs William Shakespeare’s comedy. February 6 – March 4. THOC Theatre, Main New Stage Evi Gavrielidis, Nicosia. In Greek. www.thoc.org.cy