Twelfth Night to take centre stage at 2025 Shakespeare Festival

One of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies will be performed in Norwich Cathedral’s Cloister this summer as Twelfth Night takes to the stage for this year’s Shakespeare Festival.

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men (TLCM) will perform the show on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 July 2025 at the annual open-air theatre event which is always a summer highlight at the Cathedral.

Audiences will be transported to Shakespeare's Illyria and the court of Duke Orsino for this wonderful romantic comedy about love in all its guises, mistaken identity and the hilarious mayhem that ensues!

Tickets cost £22 plus booking fee and go on sale at midday on Wednesday 12 February.

It is a welcome return for The Lord Chamberlain’s Men who last year wowed audiences at Norwich Cathedral with sold-out performances of Hamlet.

The Dean of Norwich, the Very Revd Dr Andrew Braddock, said: “It is wonderful to once again be welcoming back The Lord Chamberlain’s Men to the Cloister this summer for our annual Shakespeare Festival.

“TLCM’s shows always delight our audiences and we are looking forward to seeing what fun is in store with their latest production of the comedy Twelfth Night.”

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men are a modern-day incarnation of the Bard’s own travelling troupe of players, and they will be performing Twelfth Night just as it would have been played out in Shakespeare’s day - with an all-male cast, Elizabethan costumes and traditional music and dance.

The company – this year celebrating their 21st year – have entertained audiences across the country and beyond, and at Norwich Cathedral they have previously performed Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth.

The Norwich Cathedral shows are always something of a homecoming for TLCM’s artistic director Peter Stickney as he grew up nearby in Saxlingham Nethergate, went to Long Stratton High and Hewett School, and first developed his love of theatre while acting in high school shows.

He said: “Bringing The Lord Chamberlain’s Men to Norwich year after year is such a joy. It is an incredibly special venue and particularly personal to me as I grew up nearby and am lucky enough to see many friends and family at our performances.

“Twelfth Night is also a very special title for me. It was one of several Shakespeare’s plays I acted in before heading off to train as an actor and, crucially, it was the first play I performed in outdoors. I well and truly caught the outdoor theatre bug during those performances! The way that these stories, that so often talk about the natural world and take place on a grand stage, sit in the outdoors amongst nature and under the stars is irresistible.”

He added that his Norfolk performances early in his career have also provided some inspiration for The Lord Chamberlain’s Men’s 2025 production of Twelfth Night.

“I played Sebastian [in Twelfth Night] for the Saxlingham Players, and we performed outdoors at Rainthorpe Hall in Tasburgh. Rainthorpe is a beautiful 16th century manor house and was a significant part of my inspiration when the designer and I were discussing how this production would look.

“I really hope that audiences enjoy our performance, and I look forward to celebrating the company’s 21st birthday with you all. But be quick as last year’s performances sold out in record time!”

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men will perform Twelfth Night in Norwich Cathedral’s Cloister on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 July 2025 at 7pm.

Tickets cost £22 plus booking fee.

Tickets go on sale at midday on Wednesday 12 February.

To book, visit www.cathedral.org.uk/shakespeare

Seating is provided but unreserved. On both nights, doors will open at 6pm for people to enjoy the beautiful surrounds of the Cloister before the show and Bread Source will be selling refreshments.

More details about the plot of Twelfth Night

Orsino, Duke of Illyria, is desperately in love with Countess Olivia. But she, in mourning for her brother, has sworn off all men.

Suddenly Viola, separated from her twin brother in a shipwreck and now disguised as a man, enters Orsino’s court as his servant and turns everyone’s world upside down.

Sent to woo Olivia on Orsino’s behalf, Viola is stunned to find herself the object of Olivia’s affections and, as Olivia falls in love with Viola, so Viola falls in love with Orsino.

Romantic confusion, mistaken identity, practical jokes and riotous disorder abounds in Shakespeare’s hilarious and lyrical romantic comedy about love, its many and glorious facets, and the mess it can make of us all.