Cast ashore in a strange land by a shipwreck that has separated her from her twin brother, Viola protects herself by adopting male disguise – a ruse that leads to hilarious confusion when she enters the service of the lovesick Duke Orsino, acting as go-between in his hopeless suit to the Countess Olivia.

Meanwhile, comic mayhem erupts in Olivia’s household as her unruly uncle, Sir Toby Belch, makes mischief at the expense of her sternly disapproving steward, Malvolio.