THEATRE - OUTDOOR
The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare, by Australian Shakespeare Company
At Botanical Gardens until 19 Feb 2022. Live streamed until 20 Feb 2022- Paid view via this link: https://www.shakespeareaustralia.com.au/productions/the-comedy-of-errors-live-stream
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ****
This REVIEW of online stream of the production is published only on this blog . KH
The Comedy of Errors ASC 2021-22- Credit_Ben Fon
Glenn Elston’s boisterous, mischievous outdoor production of The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare‘s comic play about mistaken identities, is littered with bawdy jokes, slapstick, pratfalls, and gaudy, masked clown characters.
The farcical narrative is a tangled web about two pairs of twins who are mistaken for each other with madcap results. When Antipholus of Syracuse (Peter Houghton) arrives in Ephesus with his servant, Dromio of Syracuse (Syd Brisbane), their lives intersect with those of Antipholus of Ephesus (Hugh Sexton) and Dromio of Ephesus (Thomas Pidd), leading to giddying complications and confusion.
Elston’s production is a rowdy romp, full of broad buffoonery, grotesquery and physical comedy that is frequently violent – nobody is seriously hurt but almost everyone is battered and bruised, limping or squealing.
This versatile and talented cast appears to have had a riotous time creating this production and their delight in performing in half masks in the zany, knockabout style of Commedia del’Arte is palpable.
The two Antipholuses, although different in temperament, are dressed alike, wearing enormous orange floor mops/clown shoes and Adriana (Elizabeth Brennan), Antiophulus of Ephesus’ wife, spirals into hysteria about her dual-personality husband.
Meanwhile, the Dromios are also dressed alike so that the raunchy, rotund and lusty serving wench, Dowsabel, cannot tell which is ‘her’ Dromio.
Adriana and her sister, Luciana (Madeleine Somers, gad about hilariously on roller skates – yes, roller skates – with ridiculous results.
This is a vivid and vivacious production that is ideally suited to an outdoor, summer location in the Botanical Gardens. It finishes its current summer season on Saturday 19 February 2022, but it will surely make a return.
by Kate Herbert
Director Glenn Elston
Designer Greg Carroll
Choreography Sue Ellen Shook
Music Paul Norton
Costumes Karla Erenbots
CAST
Duke Solinus of Ephesus Kevin Hopkins
Egeon of Syracuse Dion Mills
Antipholus of Syracuse Hugh Sexton
Antipholus of Ephesus Peter Houghton
Dromio of Syracuse Syd Brisbane
Dromio of Ephesus Thomas Pidd
Angelo Tony Rive
Balthazar/Pinch Fabio Motto
Officer Ruben Francis
Adriana Elizabeth Brennan
Luciana Madeleine Somers
Dowsabel (Nell) Claire Duncan
Courtesan Anna Burgess
Emelia Maverick Newman
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