In Shakespeare’s comedies, love appears as a game of confused identities. Gender swaps, disguises, mistaken twins—within this experimental field of relationships, nothing is as it seems. Despite all the humor, this casts a darker light on the ever-changing constellations of couples. And those who cannot or will not take part are swept aside: Duke Orsino loves Countess Olivia; she falls in love with Cesario, who is in fact the shipwrecked Viola, who in turn loves the Duke. When Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, believed to be dead, suddenly appears, jealousy threatens to destroy everything. And the steward Malvolio experiences firsthand the brutal side of disappointed hopes in love.

In «Twelfth Night», Jörg Mannes focuses on the tension-filled interplay between deception and self-deception within this turbulent dance of love. Following the great success of «Immortal Beloved», which he created in 2021 for the Bayerisches Junior Ballett München as part of the worldwide celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s death, he now returns to reinterpret «Twelfth Night» with the next generation of the ensemble. With a clear, minimalist aesthetic and a refined sense for narrative concentration, Mannes’s interpretation of «Twelfth Night» promises to be a highlight of the guest performance program in the 2026/27 season.