Robert Kauzlaric’s play, “Lions in Illyria,” opened Friday night at the Los Alamos Little Theatre. The play is a reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” with animal characters.

The play is aimed at children and is best suited for ages 7-12. Younger children will not understand the complicated plot and older ones will find the moral lessons tedious, though everyone will enjoy the silliness, the music and the sword fighting.

All the actors play two roles. The actors, Rose Corrigan, Jim Jenkins, Tina Jenkins and Patrick Webb, play multiple characters from Shakespeare’s play in the guise of funny animals: a gazelle, a peacock, a hyena, a warthog, a dodo bird and the two lions who are the twins from “Twelfth Night,” Sebastian and Violet. All the actors do a great job, managing to interject emotion into the characters, as well as humor.

The production is ably directed by Jess Cullinan.

The character switches are accomplished though quick costume changes. The costumes by Gwen Wiens and Jess Cullinan are one of the best parts of the production. The simple but effective costumes allow the characters to switch quickly into a totally different role without sacrificing believability.

Another show standout is the music. Music from the Shakespearean era is played by Patricia Fasel, Galen Gisler, Kathy Gursky and Donna O’Donnell on recorders, drum and viola. They are delightful.

“Twelfth Night” was pretty silly to begin with and gets way sillier in this adaptation. In brief, lion twins Sebastian and Violet (Patrick Web and Rose Corrigan) are separated by a shipwreck and land in different locations in the country of Illyria. Violet disguises herself as a boy and ends up mired in a typical Shakespeare love plot, where everyone is in love with the wrong person until it all gets straightened out in the end.

Along the way, we get to have a lot of laughs, most of them at the expense of Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Patrick Web), a well-meaning but dimwitted Dodo.

Those who know “Twelfth Night” will enjoy seeing the characters from that play transformed into weirdly appropriate animals. The play stands on its own for those who don’t know the Shakespeare play however. Come to “Lions in Illyria” and you just might get convinced love isn’t icky after all.

“Lions in Illyria” continues for two weekends only through March 6 with performances at 7 p.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets for this production can be purchased for the special rate of $10, and are available at CB FOX, lalt.org or at the door. The Los Alamos Little Theatre is at 1670 Nectar St. in Los Alamos.