Twelfth Night to Open on Theatre Memphis Next Stage

William Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, floods the Next Stage at Theatre Memphis with deceit, charm and misdirected amorous attraction September 18 - October 4, 2026. Widely considered the Bard's most influential and acclaimed comedy, it tells a witty and mischievous story. After a shipwreck strands Viola, she disguises herself as a man, only to become entangled in a hilarious, high-stakes romantic triangle. A masterclass in gender-bending antics, clever wordplay, and bittersweet revelry, you'll experience the chaos of this timeless comedy as true love tries to find its way through the deception.

Director John Maness explains, “… Twelfth Night is a play about the nature of desire and the nature of self. It asks us to consider that what we take at face value is not always as it appears, and that performance, far from being the enemy of authenticity, is one of the primary means by which human beings discover what they actually are.…that identity is not a fixed and finite possession but something vast enough to contain more than one true version of itself simultaneously. Love, in this world, is the ability to perceive that truth is beneath the costume.”

Theatre Memphis Executive Producer Debbie Litch says, “There is nothing quite like bringing a Shakespearean story to life. With Twelfth Night you get all the tools that Shakespeare had to offer with an unrequited love plot and a mistaken identity storyline driving the action. And as is stated in the play itself, 'If music be the food of love, play on …. Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.' ”

Twelfth Night in the Next Stage

By William Shakespeare

Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins Extd. Memphis, TN 38117
September 18 - October 4, 2026

Director John Maness