THE COMEDY OF ERRORS To 23 August.
Tour.
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
by William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s Globe company Tour to 23 August 2009.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 7 June At Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds.
Inventive revival of Shakespeare’s What’s In A Name comedy.
Four colour-coded balloons rise to the roof of Bury St Edmunds’ Theatre Royal (in most, open air, performances they’ll float off). The colour-coding matters, being used to aid the opening back-story as merchant Egeon, an enemy alien in Ephesus, explains how two pairs of identical twins, one destined to be masters, the other servants, became separated from their siblings and set off for lives in separate pairs.
And lo, one pair have been living here in Ephesus. And the others haven’t, though they’re suddenly holed up here, finding life very puzzling as total strangers who’re suddenly recognised and invited home to dinner. What’s more, each Antipholus (the masters) keep happening upon the different Dromois (servants). If one Dromio is told to fetch something, you can bet he’ll deliver it to the wrong Antipholus, while the right Antipholus is beating the other Dromio for not obtaining it.
If ever Shakespeare etched a storyboard into a table in the Mermaid tavern, it would have been with this play. Director Rebecca Gatward not only uses visual devices to keep the story clear, but stretches things by using one actor for each set of twins. When they turn up in the same place this sets a challenge.
Gatward meets it beautifully. As the excellent Ronan Raftery dashes across the stage to be both bewildered, bespectacled stranger and startled assertive husband and the ever-comical Miltos Yerolemou switches styles of persistence as the Dromios, Gatward makes us aware she knows it’s all a joke, notching up the action by changing angles and viewpoints, making characters dash between their alter egos more than’s strictly necessary (as Shakespeare upped the single twins of his Roman source into doubles).
She’s also alive to the difference between Luciana, the wife who finds her ‘husband’ suddenly estranged, and Adriana, who lectures her on wifely duties from the safe distance of a book, spectacles and virginity – until a new Antipholus lights her fire.
Good performances around, including cameo queen Sophie Scott – her insouciant gum-chewing Gaoler a particular delight – and such ensemble moments as an instant Market, make this a serious Shakespearean delight.
Duke/Angelo: Philip Barry.
Egeon/Dr Pinch: Cornelius Booth.
Luciana: Dana Gartland.
Abbess/Courtesan/Balthazar: Johanne Murdock.
Antipholus of Ephesus/Antipholus of Syracuse: Ronan Raftery.
Adriana: Sarah Ridgeway.
1st Merchant/Gaoler/Officer/Servant to Adriana: Sophie Scott.
Dromio of Ephesus/Dromio of Syracuse: Miltos Yerolemou.
Director: Rebecca Gatward.
Designer: Liz Cooke.
Composer/Musical director: Alex Silverman.
Choreographer: Sian Williams.
Voice/dialect: Jan Haydn Rowles.
Movement: Glynn MacDonald.
Text Work: Giles Block.
Assistant director: Henry Bell.
2009-06-17 12:04:13