In the immortal words of Viola, “I am the man.”

That’s right, we are talking about Twelfth Night and everyone’s enduring obsession with how it plays with gender, what it tells us about gender, and how all the gender expansiveness is not something solely conceived of by a modern audience.

You like Viola? We talk Viola. You like hearing about strange biological misconceptions of people living in the 1500s? We got that too. You want to hear my fan theory for a sequel of the play would take us? We’ve got it all.

This cast is stacked with great characters and we’re going to celebrate that too (unless your favorite is Orsino, then I’m extremely sorry for what you’re about to hear).

Let’s get to the carousing!

Further reading:

The Arden Shakespeare Twelfth Night (seriously the introduction is so long but it’s packed with great stuff and then you get the play as a bonus)

“The Homoerotics of Shakespearean Comedy” by Valerie Traub (from the book Shakespeare, Feminism, and Gender)

“You’ll be the man!” Homophobia and the Present in Performances of Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet by Adrian Kiernander (from the book Presentism, Gender, and Sexuality in Shakespeare) 

“Shakespeare in Transition: Pedagogies of Transgender Justice and Performance” by Sawyer Kemp (chapter in the book Teaching Social Justice Through Shakespeare: Why Renaissance Literature Matters Now) 

“Shakespeare, Sexuality and Gender by Stephen Orgel” (from The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare)

Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber (the chapter on Twelfth Night, of course)

Credit where credit is due

Art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠