BWW Reviews: THE COMEDY OF ERRORS at Michigan Shakespeare Festival

Set in an "Ephesus" of indeterminate time and place, where town square fountains are adorned with gilt Potato Heads, bicycle delivery boys wear spandex, and Brooklyn-accented mobsters roam, Michigan Shakespeare Festival's performance of A Comedy of Errors takes you for a wild ride. Errors is the kind of comedy only William Shakespeare could write, filled from start to finish with slapstick, mistaken identity, puns and innuendo, now perfected with anachronism and absurdity by Director Kevin Theis and his enthusiastic cast and crew.

Arriving in Ephesus in search of his family, Egeon, a merchant of Syracuse (boo!) finds himself faced with death and tells the story of the search for his son, his servant, and their long-lost twins, protected from shipwreck from his long-lost wife, to save himself from the angry mob. Though the law demands punishment for his wrongful act of breathing in their town, the Duke decides to offer an astronomical fine as an alternative.

Thus begins the confusion. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio, the son and servant of whom Egeon spoke, arrive in Ephesus in the midst of their search for their lost brothers. Confronted by the wife of his twin, the shrewish and paranoid Adriana, played by an exuberant Maggie Kettering, and dragged off to dinner, the foreign Antipholus falls head over heels in love with her sister, the charming Amanda Reader. Meanwhile, Antipholus of Ephesus is having a very bad day. A bit inebriated, he stumbles home to find his comfortable life quite turned upside down, shut out of his own house while his wife unknowingly dines with his mirror image. One disaster after another plays out as the look-alikes' lives converge, leading to pinched ears, tugged noses, imprisonment, a near-amorous dalliance, an excorcism, a Vaudeville dance routine, and a long-winded rant by Dromio (Ephesus) followed by a teary-eyed award speech, all observed by a cleverly wisecracking fruit seller.

Scott Stangland and Jude Willis as the Syracusians, play off each other with a natural ease, as though they had in fact grown up together, and when the Ephesian Antipholus, Steven Alan O'Brien, is introduced, it is perfectly understandable how he comes to be confused with Stangland. Their similarities in looks are only the foundation on which their characters personalities and personal acting styles mimic one another's, to great effect. In addition, the Dromios, Willis (Syracuse) and Brandon St. Clair Saunders (Ephesus) are each individually a delight. The discovery of Dromio (Syracuse) that a hideous kitchen maid believes he is her husband and his resulting descriptions of her robust physique leave the audience crying with laughter.

Unobservable to the naked eye, but nonetheless integral to the story, the play reveals a fascinating web of relationships, between master and servant, parent and child, husband and wife, church and layman, lawmakers and law-abiding, seller and purchaser, resident and foreigner, and all of these in crisis, until the final act when identities are revealed, forgiveness is won, and a family is reunited.

Come prepared to laugh, and to leave smiling with hopes for your own happily-ever-after.

Performances "The Comedy of Errors":
Remaining evening performances include July 29, 31 and August 6; a 2 p.m. matinee performances take place on August 7.

Michael Baughman Theatre is located in the Potter Center at Jackson Community College, 2111 Emmons Road in Jackson, Michigan.

For more information, call 998-3673 or visit www.michiganshakespearefestival.com

 

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