ABSTRACT
In Twelfth Night, characters wear disguises and play pranks to have what they will. After Don Virginio Orsino, Duke of Bracciano, courted Queen Elizabeth during the Twelfth Night celebrations in 1600, Shakespeare featured Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night two weeks before Lent in 1602. Shakespeare drew on Italianate literature and commedia dell'arte in Twelfth Night in which zanies and capitani turn their world upside down. Like the Medieval Vice character, Sir Toby Belch misrules Olivia's estate and bullies with his chorus of clowns: Maria, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Fabian. Shakespeare set Twelfth Night in Illyria, now located in Albania. Twelfth Night became part of the commedia dell'arte cycle because Albania was under Venetian influence in the sixteenth century, and Viola and Sebastian came from Syracuse in Sicily. Since Twelfth Night marks the beginning of the Mardi Gras season, the performance of Twelfth Night in New Orleans around Mardi Gras led to an irrepressible spirit of revelry in the play.
