Class, comedy, wise fools … and love

Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s Twelfth Night will sport a Downton Abbey vibe and lots of laughs

Twelfth Night is in many ways the quintessential Shakespeare comedy, checking off many of the Bard’s favorite themes, from mistaken identity to chaos, wise fools, gender bending, and of course, love.

“It’s a perfect little Mozart symphony of a Shakespeare play,” says Tim Orr, producing artistic director of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, which will stage the play in the newly renovated Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre this season. “It’s got his best comedy, his best thoughts on the nature of love, music—and real heart.”

Director Kevin Rich, associate professor of Theatre and Dance at the University of Colorado Boulder, says this summer’s production will feature a “classy, Edwardian feel” and explore class and status.

“The play explores who’s in, who’s out, who’s up and who’s down, and the vibe will reveal that in a contemporary way,” he says. “Think of the upstairs/downstairs world of Downton Abbey. I love the idea of this show headlining the return to the Rippon.”

Costumes and sets will reflect the fashions of La Belle Époque: tops and tails, dresses beginning to show a little leg amid the trappings of wealth and privilege.

In the play, Viola is cast upon the alien shores of Illyria, having survived a shipwreck that took the life of her twin, Sebastian. Disguised as the boy Cesario, she is sent by Duke Orsino to woo the Countess Olivia, who instead falls for the messenger. Meanwhile, Olivia’s drunken uncle Sir Toby decides to play a trick on her steward Malvolio, and Feste, a roaming, musical jester, contributes to the chaos, confusion and hilarity.

But all does not necessarily end well for everyone, Rich notes. “This is a late comedy. The endings aren’t all happy, and we lean into the complexity of that.”

The play features not one, but two, fools who aren’t, really.

“I see Feste as an outsider, a traveler who has seen that there is a world elsewhere,” Rich says. “The music of Illyria features a classical influence, and Feste brings in a more acoustic sound as a counterpoint.”

Jordan Coughtry, who played Ariel and created the soundscape for CSF’s 2025 production of The Tempest, returns as Feste this summer.

And while Malvolio is played for a fool, Rich sees him as something more noble.

“He’s a dashing, impressive steward who happened to be born into the working class but desperately wants to get out,” he says.

 As Feste says, “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.”

Tickets for CSF’s 2026 production of Twelfth Night are on sale now at coloradoshakes.org.