The theme of madness is key in Canberra Repertory Society's first production for the 2014-15 season, William Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night, or What You Will, directed by former Canberran Ed Wightman.
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And to an audience, the situations presented may seem crazy. Shipwrecked Viola (played by Eleanor Garran), believing her twin brother to be dead, disguises herself as a man, Cesario, and joins the service of Orsino, Duke of Illyria (David McNamara). The duke is in love with Olivia (Lainie Hart), a countess, and sends ''Cesario'' to act as an intermediary for him. But Olivia falls for ''Cesario'', while Viola becomes infatuated with the count.
Tim Sekuless, who will play Feste, one of Shakespeare's wise fools, said madness took various forms in the play. ''People are mad for love, mad for drink, mad with ambition and mad for revenge.''
He said the decay of the mind mirrored the decay of Illyria, the country in which it was set. ''The beauty of Ed's vision is that it could be very dark and very heavy but this is absolutely a comedy.''
The characters do not see their own madness, but Feste does.
''In a world of madmen, the fool is sane. He sees that slightly dark side of things; he speaks truth to power. Anyone who's ever been in love will find themselves in some part of this show.''
Meanwhile, Feste and some other characters conspire to make Olivia's pompous steward Malvolio (Jerry Hearn) think she loves him.
Garran - making her first appearance at Rep since 1994 - said the play plumbed the profundity as well as the silliness of the situations it presented.
''It's about how ridiculous we all can be when we're love but in a very genuine, warm way.''
And while her character might end up in a strange land, Garran felt more at home. Since acting with Rep as a child, she has worked on a children's TV show in Japan, studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and a clown school in France, played and sung in a band, and moved back to Canberra last year to work as an editor for a publishing company. Despite the two-decade gap, she was happy back at Rep, where she acted with Wightman for two years all that time ago.
''This is where theatre is for me, personally,'' she said.
■ Twelfth Night, or What You Will is on at Theatre 3 as follows: preview March 27 (all tickets $30) at 8pm then March 28-April 12, Wednesday to Saturday at 8pm with 2pm matinees on April 5, 6 and 12. Tickets $40/$35. Bookings: canberrarep.org.au or 6257 1950.
