A:Viola (girl) and Sebastian (boy) are identical twins (they look exactly like each other). They are shipwrecked and each thinks the other one is dead. Viola is thrown onto the beach in the country of Illyria. She meets a kind sea-captain. Together they decide to dress Viola in men's clothes and get her a job as a page (young male servant) in Duke Orsino's house. They do this because it would be impossible for her to get a job with the rich Countess Olivia, who also lives in the area. The reason for this is that Olivia is feeling very sad after the death of her young brother and does not want to let anyone new into her palace or think about interviewing anyone for a servant's job. Viola, therefore, dresses in men's clothes, calls herself 'Cesario" and becomes Duke Orsino's personal servant. Orsino thinks he/she is good-looking and can speak well and sends him/her as a messenger to woo Olivia and make her love him, Orsino. (If you 'woo' someone you try to persuade them to love and marry you).

B: Olivia lives in a fine palace with a servant called Maria, a drunken old uncle called Sir Toby Belch and her steward, Malvolio. (A steward is someone who is paid to manage or organise a large estate or land.) Maria and Toby are cheerful, happy people. They often drink and 'party' with a man called Sir Andrew Aguecheek. He is a nobleman who is in love with the Countess Olivia. Sir Andrew gives lots of beer to Sir Toby. In return for this, Sir Toby is supposed to keep telling Olivia what a good man Sir Andrew is. Sir Toby, however, is usually too drunk to do this! The steward, Malvolio, sees all this and does NOT like it - he doesn't like seeing people being happy or silly around him. He's an arrogant, ambitious and narrow-minded man.

C: Cesario (really Viola) arrives at Olivia's palace. Olivia meets her and falls in love with her! When Cesario leaves, Olivia sends Malvolio after her to give her a ring. Cesario is shocked - Olivia was supposed to fall in live with Orsino - not her! Meanwhile, Maria and Sir Toby decide that they've had enough of the unpleasant Malvolio and will play a trick on him. They make sure he finds a letter which they have written, but which Malvolio thinks has been written by Olivia. In this letter, Olivia says she loves Malvolio and asks him to wear yellow stockings tied with crossed-over garters! She also says she'd like him to smile at her ALL THE TIME when he is with her! Malvolio is really happy and does these strange things. Olivia is shocked to see him behaving so strangely and thinks he's gone crazy so she has him locked up in a dark room.

D: As the days go by, Viola falls deeply in love with her master, Orsino, but he only loves Olivia. He tells Viola (dressed as Cesario, a boy, of course) to keep visiting Olivia and to try to get her to fall in love with him. Olivia then tells Cesario she loves him. Ceasrio replies that his heart can never belong to any woman. It is clear that Olivia loves Cesario and this makes Sir Andrew Aguecheek jealous. Sir Toby and Maria tell him to fight Cesario in a duel (sword fight). Cesario has to accept Sir Andrew's challenge even though he doesn't want to.

E: While all this is happeneing, Viola's brother, Sebastian, re-enters the story. After the shipwreck, he was rescued by Antonio, a sea-captain and they had become good friends. Sebastian decides to visit Orsino's court in Ilyria and Antonio decides to come with him. This,however, is dangerous, as Antonio is an old enemy of Orsino's and once fought him in a duel. If he returns to Ilyria, he could be arrested. Nevertheless, Antonio arrives with Sebastian in Ilyria and gives him his purse to look after. The two men go off separately for several hours.

F: While he's wandering around on his own, Antonio sees the 'duel' between Sir Andrew and Cesario. Antonio thinks Cesario is Sebastian (they are identical twins, remember) and goes to help him. The police arrive to stop the fighting, one of them recognises Anonio and they arrest him. Antonio asks Cesario to give him back his purse (he believes, of course, that he's talking to Sebastian). She, naturally, doesn't know anything about this but hears Antonio calling her'Sebastian' and realises that her brother must, therefore, be alive.

G: Meanwhile, Sebastian is being followed by Sir Andrew. Sir Andrew THINKS that he's following Cesario. Sir Toby and Maria encourage or push Sir Andrew into a duel with Sebastian. Sir Andrew gets hurt and so does Sir Toby. Olivia then appears and takes Sebastian to her house. She sends for a priest and marries Sebastian who is surprised but not unhappy about this.

H: The police are marching Antonio past Olivia's house. At that moment Orsino and Cesario appear at the gates. Orsino recognises Antonio and asks him why he's returned to Ilyria. Antonio explains that he's come with his good friend, Sebastian. Then he points at Cesario and asks him why he's spoiled their friendship by not giving back his purse.

I: Olivia then appears and tells everyone that Sebastian is her husband. Orsino starts to think badly of Cesario becuse he'd told him to try and get Olivia to love him, Orsino. Just then, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby come running in looking for a doctor because Sebastian had wounded (hurt) them in the duel. When Sir Andrew sees Cesario, he gets very angry. Olivia sends the two men away. As they leave, the real Sebastian appears and apologises for hurting the men. Sebastian sees Antonio and rushes to greet him. Antonio and everyone else look first at Cesario and then at Sebastian. Viola then tells everyone who she really is and how she and Sebastian got separated in the shipwreck.

J: Sebastian and Viola are very happy to see each other. Duke Orsino asks Viola to dress as a woman again. She can't do this, however, because she gave her woman's clothes to the kind sea-captain and he is now in prison. He's in prison, she says, because Malvolio ordered it. This problem, however, is soon solved. Feste, Olivia's clown, felt sorry for Malvolio and visited him in his 'prison'. He'd got a long letter from Malvolio which explained the whole situation. Malvolio is set free and so is the sea-captain.

K: Viola and Orsino get married. Sir Toby and Maria get married, too. The only unhappy person at the end of the play is Malvolio - he hates to see other people happy and enjoying themselves!

Summary written by Judith Goebel, Frankfurt International School.