View from 'the gods'

Summer Shakespeare 2018: The Comedy of Errors

This year Summer Shakespeare put on The Comedy of Errors – in a car park. Like last year, this is a departure from holding it in the dell in the botanical gardens. The stage was made from industrial scaffolding – yet it was not a post-apocalyptic staging.

The Comedy of Errors is, as it name suggests it is, a comedy: centred around the chaos caused by two sets of identical twins, each set having the same names – Antipholus and his servant Dromio. They are separated at birth and raised in separate cities – Syracuse and Ephesus. One day, the Ephesus set of twins arrive in Syracuse, and confusion and mayhem ensues. Of which there is much, because Antipholus of Syracuse is married! By the time it is all resolved, people’s sanity will be questioned, new loves found, and old loves reunited.

Antipholus is played by James Cain and Michael Hockey; Dromio is played by Kasey Benge and Samuel Irwin. Adriana wife of Antipholus, of Syracuse, is played by Stevie Hancox – who has a pleasant singing voice. The play has elements of singing and Adriana has a solo. There is also a musical dance number at the end of the play – which I am told is a traditional way to end an Elizabethan play.

Worth going to: ‘original’ outdoor setting; some slapstick comedy; some great lines (it is Shakespeare after all); good performances; excellent singing; and to support an excellent local production.