Robert Richmond is fast becoming an essential cog in the wheels of the Folger Elizabethan Theatre. Earlier this season, he directed Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” the best-selling production in Folger’s history. Now he turns his imaginative sights to “Twelfth Night,” moving seamlessly from a dramatic study of a hero faced with an impending war to a bubbling concoction of fantasy and reality.

“The two plays are entirely different,” Richmond said. ” ‘Henry V’ is masculine and violent, so I knew we had to focus in this play on an elegant, whimsical period of time. Events take place on the last day of the Christmas period, the Twelfth Night, when many societies enjoy festivities and merrymaking. In some homes, a Christmas pudding is served. Inside is a bean waiting to be discovered. The person who gets it is king for a day. The subtitle for the play is ‘What You Will,’ or what you wish for. Many people who find the bean wish for love, but nothing is guaranteed. This is a story about the many forms of love: unconditional love, unrequited love, passionate love, undeserved love, self love and true love.