Twelfth Night

The Royal Shakespeare Company welcomes in the festive season at the Barbican this winter with Shakespeare’s spellbinding masterpiece Twelfth Night, following a 5 star, sold-out run in Stratford-upon-Avon, from 8 December.

Director Prasanna Puwanarajah revives his ‘inspired and spellbinding’ (The Stage) production, iconically designed by James Cotterill, which sees Samuel West (Malvolio), Freema Agyeman (Olivia), and Michael Grady-Hall (Feste) reprising their critically acclaimed performances.

A woman survives a shipwreck and washes up on an unknown shore. Alone and bereaved of her twin brother, she embarks on a secret new life as a go-between for two people in the extremity of love and grief. Caught up in the ensuing love triangle, she experiences the chaos and humanity of unexpected love; and discovers that in Illyria, everyone is hiding something.

With original music and songs composed by singer songwriter Matt Maltese, don’t miss this bittersweet freewheeling miracle of farce, longing, love and life, playing for 6 weeks only until 17 January 2026.