The Comedy of Errors REVIEW July 15, 2022 ***

THEATRE

Written by William Shakespeare

By Bell Shakespeare

At Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne until July 23, 2002

Reviewer: Kate Herbert 

Stars: ***

This review was first published in The Age Arts online on Sunday July 17, 2022 and in print on Monday July 18, 2022. Click this link Comedy of Errors to The Age and scroll down to the second review after 9 to 5.

Felix Jozeps (facing front) with cast- image Brett Boardman

Shakespearean comedy collides with hedonistic, 70s disco culture, and classic TV series, Fantasy Island, in Bell Shakespeare’s lively and colourful production of The Comedy of Errors.

 

The tangled, farcical narrative involves two pairs of identical twins, separated in infancy by a shipwreck, who are mistaken for each other with madcap results. When Antipholus of Syracuse (Skyler Ellis) arrives in Ephesus with his servant, Dromio of Syracuse (Julia Billington), their lives intersect with those of Antipholus of Ephesus (Felix Jozeps) and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus (Ella Prince), leading to dizzying complications, love mismatches, imprisonments and general confusion.

 

Director, Janine Watson’s screwball mash-up further complicates the plot by inserting gender switches that see a male-female romance changed to two men, the Dromios’ pronouns changed from “he” to “they” to indicate their non-binary gender, the Duke (Alex King) played by a woman addressed as “she”, and a “kitchen wench” referred to as “he”.

 

Shakespeare’s play begins and ends with the dramatic tale of Egeon (Maitland Schnaars), father of the Antipholus twins, being imprisoned under sentence of death for being a Syracusan on Ephesian soil. The play then gallops away with its comical story that resembles a Commedia dell’Arte plot.

 

Watson sets her whimsical production in a fanciful, tropical island version of Ephesus, an ancient town on the Aegean Sea that never saw a palm tree or a resort. Characters costumed (Hugh O’ Connor) in gaudy 70s shirts, caftans and wide lapelled suits, cavort to disco hit songs including Love Really Hurts Without You and Rock the Boat, perform daffy dance routines during scene changes and clout each other with party balloons.

 

Although these slapstick antics are diverting and each diverse element is fun in isolation, these separate parts do not make a cohesive whole, so Watson’s interpretation of the play is patchy, sometimes incoherent and does not always serve the story or illuminate characters. The slow-motion device used for scene changes is unnecessary, and the stylised, upstage dancing by characters who are not in scenes is an annoying distraction from the main action.

 

Ellis and Jozeps are effective as the Antipholus brothers, Billington and Prince find slapstick mileage in their Dromio roles and King is dignified as the Duke. Other performances are uneven, with several actors lacking effective vocal technique, dynamic range or credible connection to Shakespeare’s text.

 

This peculiar, hybrid production is entertaining and energetic but its attempt at an original, creative interpretation of Shakespeare’s comedy is ultimately inconsistent and out of balance.

 

By Kate Herbert

 

 

Julia Billington -Dromio of Syracuse

Ella Prince -Dromio of Ephesus

Skyler Ellis- Antipholus of Syracuse

Felix Jozeps -Antipholus of Ephesus

Joseph ‘Wnujaka’  Althouse -Luciano

Giema Contini -Adriana

Alex King -Duke

Leilani Loau -Emilia

Lauren Richardson- Courtesan

Maitland Schnaars - Egeon

 

Set & Costume Designer - Hugh O’ Connor

Lighting Designer - Kelsey Lee

Composer and Sound Designer - Pru Montin

Movement Director  - Samantha Chester

Voice and Text Coach -Jess Chambers