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Peer Reviews The Comedy of Errors By William Shakespeare Reviewed by Keith Waits Entire contents copyright © 2009, Keith Waits, all rights reserved.
If one is looking for a funny and fast-paced evening of theatre that will allow ample time for a post-performance nightcap, you could certainly do a lot worse than this Walden Theatre production. Already Shakespeare's briefest play, this bright and colorful telling wastes no time reaching a breathless conclusion, perhaps to its detriment. In truth, during the first act, the dialogue often escaped the mouths of the young actors in a manner that suggested desperation, as if the cast were anxious to purge themselves of the witty, dense language. Such a shame when they were on target in all other aspects. Perhaps it could be explained by opening-night jitters, but the rapid-fire delivery threatened to overshadow the assured grace and dexterity of the vigorously physical staging. Fortunately, the pace slowed just enough during the second act to allow the production to breathe and the quicksilver talent of the cast to show itself to greater advantage. The action, as is often the case in Shakespearean comedies, turns nonsensically on questions of mistaken identity, as twin brothers, both named Antipholus, separated over a lifetime and each unaware of the other's existence, are suddenly thrust into close enough proximity to cause profound confusion. The twins are accompanied by servants named Dromio, also twin brothers estranged in the same manner. The whole enterprise is here lent much-needed plausibility through the effective use of masks and costuming evocative of commedia dell' arte. The rich fabrics and distinct profiles exhibited in the clothing, designed by Laura Patterson, played a vital role in reinforcing the credibility of the multiple misunderstandings as well as supporting the playful, almost farcical temper established by director Charlie Sexton. I was especially taken with the loose, flopsy-mopsy fashion in which the two Dromios were dressed. It was, in fact, these mirror-image characters that dominated the play. In two equally matched performances, Frances Gossen and Molly Kaviar rendered the much-abused servants with such charm and pathos as to almost (but not quite) steal the play from the many other capable actors. Certainly the text gives them the luck of the lines, but the fluidity and consistency of their movement and vocal delivery made them nearly interchangeable, and the show was first and foremost a showcase for their memorable achievement. Still, kudos to Ryan Seals and John Tamplin as the two Antipholuses, who fell just one note short of the same synergy in their work, and to Olivia Brown, Xan Belzley, Nikki Priest and Whitney Willoughby, standouts among the strong cast. Mr. Sexton also dared to offer an original addition to the text in the form of a brief but engaging prologue in which the cast appears as members of a troupe of players who choose, through a fraudulently random selection, to mount an impromptu version of The Comedy of Errors. It was a presumptuous idea that paid off handsomely in providing context for the mannered approach to the material, and gave a spotlight to Walden veteran Sami Siegwald, whose offbeat charm and humor set the appropriate tone for the evening's entertainment.
The Comedy of Errors
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