In theatre, a “breeches” role is one in which an actress cross-dresses, appearing on stage in men's clothing. Heroines in pants roles are mostly limited to playing youth, maintaining their femininity within this in-between state (Mann, 228). Malvolio describes Cesario as “Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy” (Iv149-50). Twelfth Night, through these trousers and androgynous characters, explores how gender is shaped. In exploring this androgyny, Shakespeare draws on Ovid's myths of metamorphosis and Hermaphrodite, incorporating a number of attitudes regarding love and union between men and women (Slights, 327). Viola's gendered performance is used to demonstrate that sexual and romantic attraction "is not an inherently gendered or heterosexual phenomenon" (Charles, 124). The cultural meanings of gender associated with a sexed body are “theoretically applicable to both sexes” (Charles, 122). Judith Butler argues that “the production of sex as prediscursive should be understood as the effect of the apparatus of gendered cultural constructions” (qtd. in Charles, 122). Gender is a social construct that varies within each society, related but not identical to one's sex (Rackin, 30). The signifiers of gender and meaning are equally varied and constantly changing. Some critics argue that if gender roles can be simulated as in these games, “then they have no natural validity and are nothing more than role-playing or masquerade” (Mann, 228). In this play, the social construction of gender and sexual identities are dramatized (Charles, 122). Clearly established in Act 1.2 is Viola's plan to disguise herself as a man, and all of her actions within the play are intended in relation to this disguise. When the audie... half of the sheet... ct 2.4 becomes the emotional center of the work, pushing the relationship between Orsino and Viola/Cesario further than previously seen. By reading the dialogues you can fully appreciate the different passions felt between the characters. The interaction and ambiguity of gender and sexuality predominates throughout the work. In casting the characters of Viola and Orsino, this theme became the predominant one in our performance. In doing so, we were able to appreciate the difficulties of playing cross-dressing characters, engaging in the Elizabethan practice of a male actor playing a female role. Through performance feedback, we were able to consider, explore and question both planned and unconscious choices in representing gender through costumes and discourses that brought deeper meaning to the themes of gender and sexuality and the text as a whole..