THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
Antic Disposition
at Gray's Inn Hall
22.08.2016

for 
The Reviews Hub

Sir Francis Walsingham, Good Queen Bess's Spymaster, was not amused. Sitting (for his portrait) in the back of the audience, he stared impassively at the frantic antics of the farceurs charging around the ancient hall. The very space, in fact, where Shakespeare's briefest play was first performed, by “a company of base and common fellows” back in 1594.
The rest of the capacity crowd, though, enjoyed this fast-paced and physical musical version of the Comedy of Errors, drawing its inspiration from the 1959 classic Some Like It Hot.
Not the first time it's been given the song and dance treatment, of course, notably in Stratford some forty years ago, and on Broadway before the war.
This new version, directed by Ben Horslen and John Riseboro, with Nick Barstow in charge of the music, is energetically done by a fine team of actor/musicians. The setting is the Bay of Ephesus Hotel in the 20s, with the movable door to “The Phoenix Suite” the only piece of scenery.
Its mafioso owner, Solinus, is deliciously played by Philip Mansfield, who also gives us the hopeless cabaret “conjurer” Doctor Pinch. The hotel's manager – Antipholus of Ephesus – and his bell-hop servant Dromio are the fine comedy duo of Alex Hooper and Keith Higinbotham, their banter during the warm-up a hint of delights to come. It seemed as if Higinbotham's performance would be hard for his twin to match, but Andrew Venning steps smartly up to the mark with his brilliant kitchen wench stand-up routine.
A good pairing too, of Ellie Ann Lowe's long-suffering Adriana and her bespectacled sister Giovanna Ryan, though when things get really lively the shrieking tends to blur the words. Louise Templeton (ukulele) is the nun Emilia, as well as Pinch's glamorous assistant, and the Marilyn Monroe role (the Courtesan of the original) is beautifully taken by Susie Broadbent, singing – how could she not – I Wanna Be Loved By You.
The other Antipholus twin, amusingly confused by his reception in Ephesus, is William de Coverly, and Paul Sloss brings a touch of bling to his camp goldsmith Angelo. Paul Croft has the long exposition as old Egeon – also the smartly uniformed Officer - and Scott Brookes is “Joey Merchant”, Solinus' sinister side-kick.
And they all make up an impressive jazz band, with the sax obbligato in Through With Love a particular highlight. But before the two Dromios touchingly walk off sideways through the doorway and the band take their calls to a final reprise of Running Wild, we have a crazy chase, the hotel changing magically to the chapel, and even a fleeting moment with two men cross-dressed in coats and cloche hats ...

production image: Scott Rylander

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

Groundlings Theatre Company at the Rose, Bankside

16.07.2014

for Remote Goat

Praetorius on the soundtrack, and the Rose's already limited acting space half-filled with battered trunks and suitcases. Who was F J G GILL, and what would he think to see his luggage gracing the ancient boards of Bankside's earliest playhouse ? The boxes and the other baggage are creatively used here, setting scenes and concealing characters.

The Groundlings are based in Portsmouth – they offer training as well as producing their own shows. This pocket-sized comedy was first seen in their own heritage theatre near Gunwharf Quays. Six actors, eighty minutes, and a hectic canter through the comedy from the sea voyage to the farcical finale, where audience members are pressed into performing as the alter egos of Antipholus and his “man” Dromio.

Richard Stride's production has many happy moments amongst the box shifting: Mark Flynn's callow Antipholus doting on Emma Uden's bespectacled, russet-haired Luciana, the Dromios farting at the door, and the puppets-in-a-box for the Abbess and Egeon [Stuart Frank, who also gives us a memorable courtesan, and Oliver Gyani who makes a nicely anxious Goldsmith and an imposing Dr Pinch, with his phial sloshing ominously]. Anna Mallard, with huge hair, paces impatiently and speaks the verse impeccably.

Poor old Dromio bears the brunt of the mistaken identities as man and master “wander in illusion”. He's played in a green roly-poly suit by Helen Oakleigh – an excellent match, you'd think, for the greasy kitchen wench. Bags of energy, if too much on the same note for my taste.

This is reduced Shakespeare, of course, and works well in this largely traditional take, with its Elizabethan costumes and period music. The wordy dénouement could perhaps have been trimmed further, bringing us a little earlier to the lively jig.

The Comedy of Errors plays until July 27, in tandem with the Groundlings' Henry V: Oakleigh directs this time, with Stride as the hero of Agincourt.

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

Romford Summer Theatre in Raphael Park

21.06.13

for Remote Goat

Lively, unsubtle and short, Shakespeare's early farce is a good choice for the open air.

Kevin O'Connor's stylish production is set in the Roaring Twenties, with appropriate snatches of song to bridge the scenes. [Was that Jay Whidden's Louisiana as I took my seat in the Rockery ?]

A casting luxury Shakespeare must have dreamt of – the Spong brothers as the two Dromios. Their cleft-apple looks add hugely to the mirror moment at the end, the hand-clasp exit, and the ingenious scene with the two slaves either side of the "guilty doors".

Andrew and Richard had much of the physical comedy, too, well-timed and never over-played, and Dromio of Syracuse [Richard, I think] gets some of the best laughs from his riff about his kitchen-drudge "wife".

Their two twin masters, Tweedledum and Tweedledee in their boaters and Oxford bags, are Mark Griffiths and Paul Sparrowham, hilarious in his confusion, especially in the "old rope" sequence.

In fox fur, pearls and gorgeous flapper dress Natalie Sant makes an elegant, eloquent Adriana, with Lindsay Hollingsworth a nice contrast as her bookish sister.

Plenty of enjoyment to be had from the smaller roles, too: Jim Rimel telling "sad stories of his own mishap", Vernon Keeble-Watson the very model of a major-general as the Duke, Chrissie O'Connor as the devil's dam, John Lester as the wronged goldsmith, Bob Etherton as a corny stage conjurer. And Louise O'Connor is the Abbess, who engineers a happy ending as none other than Aegeon's long-lost wife, mother of the twin Antipholi.

The sylvan setting works well here; our imaginary forces can easily convince us that the Centaur, the Phoenix and the Porpentine lie just over the lake, beyond the trees …