The Comedy of Errors

First, accept the premise: identical twin boys are born on the same day in Syracuse to Emilia (Leilani Loau) and Egeon (Maitland Schnaars), a merchant; both boys are called Antipholus.  On the same day, another set of identical twin boys is born; Egeon buys/adopts them from their penniless mother as ‘bondsmen’ to serve his twins and calls them both Dromio.  

Egeon, Emilia, the two Antipholus’s and the two Dromios travel on a ship that is caught in a storm.  Egeon, with one Antipholus and one Dromio, is separated from Emilia who is with the other Antipholus and the other Dromio.  They do not see each other again… Then Syracuse Antipholus (Skyler Ellis)and his servant Dromio (Julia Billington) go looking for Antipholus’ twin in Ephesus – where the other Antipholus (Felix Jozeps) lives with his servant Dromio (Ella Prince)…  Meanwhile, Egeon, worried about his son, travels also to Ephesus – where he is promptly arrested as an enemy intruder…  Are you with me so far? 

And so, let the rumpus, confusion, misidentification, and mayhem begin.  Once – or if – you buy that premise and the set-up, then you will go with Shakespeare as he wrings from this every permutation, every farcical possibility and bewildering confrontation.  The plot as plot is clever – as long as you can suspend your disbelief to a considerable degree.  And if you do get lost, there are many speeches telling us what we already know.  Various claims have been made in the past – and now for this production – about the play having some deeper significance but that is hard to detect here.

Director Janine Watson offers us diverse casting and some gender-bending.  As is so often the case, the gender-bending seems for hell of it rather than making some point.  She locates her production in the 1970s because, she says, it was ‘a time of social rebellion and cultural revolution, global conflict and political upheaval’.  It’s an interesting concept even if the connection to Shakespeare’s slapstick, punning comedy is rather tenuous.  But what we see on stage are those ludicrous clothes we (some of us) wore back then, occasional disco dancing and a lot of balloons – backed by 1970s pop hits – e.g., ‘Dancing Queen’.  It all seems arbitrary and unfocussed.  The actors are working very hard, but, of course, there’s not much pleasure in seeing actor working hard.

But in the melee, some fine performances manage to stand out. Julia Billington as Syracuse Dromio is fine physical comedian, has a confident grasp of the text and has fun with it.  Skyler Ellis as Syracuse Antipholus is convincingly bewildered and then convincingly – if suddenly – attracted to Luciano (Joseph ‘Wanujaka’ Althouse), Adriana’s brother (sister in the original).  Alex King and Lauren Richardson have grace and presence and handle the text with a genuine feel for the sense and rhythm of the words.

The Comedy of Errors is not Shakespeare’s finest work. It’s nowhere near the later comedies such as As You Like It or Much Ado About Nothing.  It’s a very early work and he was clearly trying to make his mark – and he did: the play was a success – and it’s been adapted or rewritten as other farces, music theatre, television, and film.  But  neither is this production Bell Shakespeare’s finest either. The concept seems, to me anyway, grafted on and the production overall is unfocussed. To make this nonsense work what’s needed is to embrace the nonsense and take it to a level of clowning skill like, say, One Man Two Guvnors. Here, we are left puzzled: why are we watching this?

Michael Brindley

Photographer: Brett Boardman