THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. To 8 December.
Tour.
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
by William Shakespeare.
Royal Shakespeare Company Tour to 8 December 2007.
Runs 2hr 30min One interval.
Review: Alan Geary: 6 November 2007 at Theatre Royal Nottingham.
Classy and satisfying entertainment.
Ed Note: Al reviews for us Nancy Meckler's restaging of her RSC production. Reviews of the original production are in the archive.
It’s a ludicrous plot. Syracusians (Egeon and Aemilia) with twin boys, each called Antipholus, adopt two more twins, both called Dromio, so each son will have a servant. They’re separated for years and when they eventually meet up in Ephesus confusion breaks out.
This RSC production, a newly-cast revival of director Nancy Meckler’s earlier success, plays against a background of live, jazzy music. It combines farce and daft haircuts with lots of pantomime - there’s oohing and ahhing, and a bald bloke in the audience is briefly incorporated into the fun.
Every actor exploits his/her part for laughs. Antipholus of Ephesus (Simon Merrells, whose real-life brother Jason plays Antipholus of Syracuse) speaks one of those utterly incomprehensible lines you occasionally get in Shakespeare then takes a sidelong glance at the audience as if to say, “I didn’t write this”.
One of the funniest scenes shows Antipholus (E) barred from his own house and the hapless Dromio of Ephesus (Chris New) being used as a battering ram. There’s also a mini-competition over who can let wind most spectacularly.
Even Shakespeare’s verbal quibbling, often a bit trying, works here - probably because it’s splendidly bawdy.
Ephesus is a decadent seaport with lots of cleavage, populated mostly by grotesques. This is most obvious, perhaps incongruously so, in the episode dominated by the cadaverous Doctor Pinch, which seems out of kilter with the overall spirit of the production. But the tranquillity of the next scene, set outside an Abbey and involving long-lost mother turned Abbess, Aemilia (Annabel Leventon), offers a nice contrast.
The closing scene is beautifully done, partly in choreographed slow-motion. It’s not just funny: with its several re-unions, it’s genuinely moving. And there’s the reconciliation between Antipholus (E) and Adriana, not to mention the love-match between Antipholus (S) and the beautiful Luciana (Olivia Llewellyn).
As much as anything, the play is about the triumph of fidelity and long-lasting, respectful love over ordinary knock-about eros. Siobhan Redmond’s fine performance as Adriana - red-haired, spirited and sexy but also in love with an apparently wayward husband - is itself sufficient to make this clear.
Antipholus of Ephesus: Simon Merrells.
Dromio of Ephesus: Chris New.
Adriana: Siobhan Redmond.
Luciana: Olivia Llewellyn.
Luce: Rachael Spence.
Messenger: Matt Blair.
Egeon: Ciaran McIntyre.
Antipholus of Syracuse: Jason Merrells.
Dromio of Syracuse: Iain McKee.
Aemilia: Annabel Leventon.
Solinus: Tim Chipping..
First Merchant: Kirris Riviere
Second Merchant: Daniel Francis.
Angelo: Tom Davey.
Balthasar: Tobias Beer.
Courtesan: Joanne Howarth.
Dr Pinch: James Clyde.
Pinch’s Assistant: Amy Rockson.
Officer: Barnaby Power.
Puppeteer: Stewart W Fraser.
Director: Nancy Meckler.
Designer: Katrina Lindsay.
Lighting: Tim Mitchell.
Composer: Ilona Sekacz.
Choreographer: Michael Ashcroft.
2007-11-08 22:47:24