Lantern Theater Company Closes 30th Anniversary Season with THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

 Lantern Theater Company Will Close its 30th anniversary season with The Comedy of Errors, part of the company’s ongoing commitment to produce the timeless stories of William Shakespeare for both the general public and local school students. Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon directs an ensemble cast of Lantern veterans, including Morgan Charéce Hall, J Hernandez, Dave Johnson, Brian McCann, Lee Minora, Kishia Nixon, Matteo Scammell, and Zach Valdez. The Comedy of Errors runs Thursday, May 16 through Sunday, June 16, 2024, at St. Stephen’s Theater in Center City Philadelphia; a complete schedule of performances and audience enrichment events is included in the fact sheet below. Theater critics and members of the press planning coverage are invited to request press tickets for opening night on Wednesday, May 22 at 7 p.m. by contacting Anne Shuff at ashuff@lanterntheater.org.

William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors is a farcical romp about mistaken identities, reunited families, love lost and won, and the differences between nature and nurture. In Ephesus, Antipholus and Dromio – a man and his servant from Syracuse – search for their respective twins, from whom they were separated by a shipwreck years earlier. Meanwhile, Antipholus’ father arrives to conduct his own search and is promptly arrested, as Syracusans are unwelcome in Ephesus. To evade capture themselves, Antipholus and Dromio don local disguises, and hilarious hijinks ensue as we learn that the missing twins are indeed living in Ephesus and using the same names as their long-lost brothers. Romantic entanglements, legal disputes, money trouble, and mistaken identities spiral out of control as the twins are unwittingly drawn into each other’s lives before one final hilarious twist reunites the family. The Comedy of Errors is a sparklingly comic confection, employing slapstick, clowning, and delicious irony alongside Shakespeare’s timeless poetry and wordplay to tell a madcap tale of identity, reunion, and learning (through force, if necessary) to be a better version of oneself.

“One of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, The Comedy of Errors is the bold and confident work of a writer who already has mastered his craft,” said Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon. “Taking as his source material a classical Roman play by the much-admired Plautus, Shakespeare hurls down the gauntlet before Thomas Greene and other snobbish university educated playwrights that held him in disdain. Freely adapting Plautus’ story of twins separated at birth, Shakespeare adds a second set of twins, multiplying the possibilities for errors and mistaken identities, and making the plot infinitely more complicated as it barrels headlong to a conclusion that only a miracle could sort out. For daring narrative and sheer comic exuberance, none of the university set could come close.”

Lantern Theater Company will delve into The Comedy of Errors on its Lantern Searchlight blog, available online atlanterntheater.org/searchlight. Articles will be published throughout the production’s run, exploring the evolution of Shakespeare’s comedies, Shakespeare’s siblings and shipwrecks and other plot devices, and the history of commedia dell’arte, as well as behind the scenes conversations with the artists and more.

Tickets for The Comedy of Errors are $28 – $45 and are available online at www.lanterntheater.org or by calling the Lantern Box Office at (215) 829-0395. Discounts are available for theatergoers under age 30, seniors 65 and up, U.S. military personnel, and groups of 10 or more. Performances of The Comedy of Errors will take place at St. Stephen’s Theater, located at 923 Ludlow Street in Center City Philadelphia. Face masks are welcome, but not required.

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