Theater at Bates will stage William Shakespeare’s timeless comedy “Twelfth Night” at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, in Shaeffer Theater, Bates College. The play also will be performed at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6; 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7; 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12; 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14. Tickets are $6 for general admission and $3 for students and seniors. Tickets may be reserved through the Schaeffer Theatre box office by calling 207-786-6161.

A dizzyingly humorous web of disguise, intrigue, mistaken identity and sexual confusion, “Twelfth Night” follows twins Viola and Sebastian, who are shipwrecked off the coast of Illyria. Both are saved, but each thinks the other has drowned. A kindly sea captain helps Viola to disguise herself as a man and find her way to the household of Count Orsino. There, passing as a man, she is taken into the service by the lovesick Orsino, who sends her to court Olivia, a beautiful young woman who mourns for her recently dead father and brother. Viola, however, falls in love with Orsino and only reluctantly woos Olivia. Olivia flatly rejects Orsino’s overtures, but immediately falls in love with the disguised Viola.

Sebastian unwittingly steps into the fray while walking the streets of Illyria. Olivia takes him for his disguised twin sister. Unlike Viola, who has rejected all of Olivia’s overtures, Sebastian is only too happy to accept the lady’s proffered love. Jealousy and confusion ignite passions before true identities are revealed and romance reigns.

The production is suitable for children, according to director Martin Andrucki, professor of theater at Bates, and features costumes combining elements of the revolutionary era in France with details derived from contemporary avant-garde fashion. The set design bridges periods, suggesting “a futuristic dystopia and an early industrial landscape,” Andrucki said. The sets and costumes have been designed by Ellen Seeling, assistant professor of theater at Bates.

Greta Hammond, a senior from Hiram, Maine, plays Viola; Adam Thompson, a senior from Portland, Maine, plays Sebastian; Milena Zuccotti, a senior from Brooklyn, N.Y., plays Olivia; and John Forest, a sophomore from Nashua, N.H., plays Count Orsino.