I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 10, 2018] The Comedy of Errors

Our friends Jonathan and Carrie take their kids to the Shakespeare Theatre regularly and they invited us along for The Comedy of Errors.

I’m not the only one who enjoys performed Shakespeare about 100 times more than reading Shakespeare, and I felt like this show really brought the play (which I didn’t know) to life.  It also made me laugh at how this play is basically the foundation of every mistaken identity slapstick story every written.

The play ran for a little over an hour–perfect for kids (it was listed as appropriate for grades 3 and up).  It’s usually around 90 minutes, so they cut out some stuff, I guess, which was fine.

The story itself is very funny with “two sets of identical twins, mistaken identities, colorful characters and a madcap chase sequence.”

What really impressed me about the production was that rather than having two people in the twins’ roles, they had the same actor (and actress, in this case) play both roles.  Antipholus the main character was very funny.  But Dromio, the servant, was an awesome comic character who stole the show.  I’m sorry I can’t find the woman who played him.  When it came time to have them both on stage, there was lots of very clever misdirection to allow the “double’s” face never to be seen.

It’s funny how (at least in this version) the separation of twins at birth is crazily far-fetched–the ship they are on was split in two in the ocean and each half landed in a different country with each one assuming the other half sank.  The story also only works because both parents (each parent was separated with one twin) gave their son the same name (Antipholus).  Perhaps in the full version this is given a more credible explanation.

It’s also funny how the opening of the story is very technical about laws.  According to a plot summary, a law forbids merchants from Syracuse to enter Ephesus, so Syracusian trader Egeon faces execution when he is discovered in the city.  He can only escape by paying a fine of a thousand marks.  I don;t think I got that aspect at all.  I assume that law existed but what a strange introduction to a comedy–with a pending execution.  At least there was comic relief from the police.

After the first fifteen or so minutes of exposition, the action and humor really take off.  There’s some very good mistaken identity–having Dromio played by one person really makes the mistaken identity more fun.  There’s some amusing sequences with bags of money and jewelry.  There was a wonderfully over the top character, Angelo, who wants to buy a chain from one of the Antipholuses.  Of course there’s a romantic subplot running through the whole thing in which the two Antipholuses are confused by two sisters.  And it all ends in a priory.

And yes, the slapstick (including a fart joke) was really fun too .

They spoke in Shakespearean English so I know that the kids didn’t follow it fully, but the actors played up the important parts and the important plot parts were clearly enunciated made the story a good one for all ages.

All in all, a good hour of educational theater (with fart jokes).

The acting was pretty fantastic, too.

See a trailer.