Celebrating Twelfth Night

Shakespeare didn’t write any plays about Christmas—but he did write one for the festive season. Twelfth Night, or What You Will gets its title from the holiday Twelfth Night, traditionally celebrated on January 5. Read on for more about the connection between the holiday and its namesake.

What is Twelfth Night?

Twelfth Night is the final night in the celebration of the Twelve days of Christmas and represents an end to the Christmas season. In Elizabethan England, the Feast of the Epiphany—marking the visit of the Three Kings to Bethlehem to worship the Christ child—was celebrated on January 6, making the night of January 5 Twelfth Night. Practices vary somewhat today.

What is Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night? 

A favorite among Shakespeare’s comedies, Twelfth Night plays with love and power. The wealthy Countess Olivia attracts Duke (or Count) Orsino. Two other would-be suitors are her pretentious steward, Malvolio, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Onto this scene arrive the twins Viola and Sebastian; caught in a shipwreck, each thinks the other has drowned. Viola disguises herself as a male page and enters Orsino’s service. Orsino sends her as his envoy to Olivia—only to have Olivia fall in love with the messenger. Complications ensue! 

2025 was a banner year for Twelfth Night, with productions by Shakespeare in the Park in New York and Shakespeare’s Globe in London, as well as our own at the Folger!  The Shakespeare in the Park Twelfth Night is available for streaming on PBS Great Performances through the end of 2025.

Why did Shakespeare call his play Twelfth Night? 

 Twelfth Night (the holiday) marks the boundary between the festive season and the workaday world. The second part of the play’s title, “What You Will,” often omitted today, makes clear the rule of will and pleasure that makes up much of the action. There’s misrule, feasting, role-play, and confusion aplenty in this plot. 

Was Twelfth Night performed on Twelfth Night? 

Hard to say. It’s possible that Queen Elizabeth I commissioned the play from Shakespeare as part of her festivities to end the Christmastide season in January 1601. Shakespeare’s theater company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later known as the King’s Men during the reign of James I), did perform during those celebrations. We do know its first public performance was on February 2, 1602, in Middle Temple Hall, London, during Candlemas, the conclusion of the season of Epiphany.