It starts with a shipwreck; it ends with a double wedding. When Viola washes ashore and disguises herself as a man, she sets off a chain of mistaken identities, sexual desire, and romantic chaos that make this Shakespeare’s most enduring and lyrical comedy. Directed by Jess Chayes (STC’s Jane Anger), Twelfth Night is Shakespeare at his most irresistible.

Shakespeare’s propulsive tragedy asks what happens when ambition overtakes conscience, and a husband and wife talk each other into the unspeakable. With astonishing puppet work by Ksenya Litvak, the witches, ghosts, and children of prophecy step out of the ancient world and into ours, drawing our imaginations into the “supernatural soliciting” at the heart of the play.