‘Twelfth Night’ is a Shakespearean hoot, and Prime Stage actors Carolyn Jerz, Malcolm MacKenzie, and Dana Babal have their hootin’ duds on. (photo courtesy of Prime Stage Theatre)

Why is Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night enjoying a new wave of popularity? Perhaps real life has become so bizarre that no contemporary comedy can match it, so we have to go back 417 years to find one. Anyhow, the play has been turning up on schedules regularly, and now Pittsburgh’s Prime Stage Theatre is doing Twelfth Night. This comedy has it all: shipwrecked twins, Sir Toby Belch (“Dost thou think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?”), a woman posing as a man, a woman lusting for the man she thinks the woman is, social satire, wacky naughty humor, and fools of every type, from professional to unaware that they are. Prime Stage says its Twelfth Night is “set in the colorful world of Portugal,” which is not where Shakespeare put it. But Portugal is indeed colorful—think California before the high prices kicked in—and the cast includes Carolyn Jerz, Matt Henderson, John Feightner, Alison Weisgall, Art DeConcillis, Dana Babal, and more. There’s original music by Monica Stephenson and Gil Teixeira. At the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. —Entertainment Central Pittsburgh