Theater Review: “The Comedy of Errors”

NEW YORK—Propeller, an all-male British acting company, presents a bawdy, ribald, and absolutely delightful production of William Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. A tale of mistaken identities and improbable coincidences taken to the absolute extreme, the show is a delightful example of comic timing, acrobatic humor, hysterical apoplexies, and total suspension of disbelief.

In ancient Ephesus, Aegeon (Richard Clothier) a merchant from Syracuse, has been sentenced to death. At his trial, Aegeon explains that many years ago he, his wife, their newborn identical twin boys, (both named Antipholus), as well as two infant brothers— also identical twins (both named Domino)—who would become servants to their children, were separated when their ship went down.

Aegeon ended up with one of each of the twins, while his wife and the other two children vanished. Aegeon has since been searching for his lost family—said search having taken him to Ephesus.

It turns out Aegeon’s long-lost son Antipholus (Sam Swainsbury) is living in Ephesus along with his manservant Dromio (Jon Trenchard) and is now married to Adriana (Robert Hands). At the same time, Aegeon’s other son Antipholus (Dugald Bruce-Lockhart)—a bit of a lothario—and his manservant Dromio (Richard Frame) have just arrived in Ephesus.

It’s not long before the different sets of twins begin to be mistaken for one another with Adriana dragging the wrong Antipholus home for dinner, where he falls madly in love with her sister Luciana (David Newman), who is naturally quite flustered by the advances of her supposed brother-in-law. 

Meanwhile Adriana’s husband comes home to find the doors of his house locked so he reports to the house of Courtesan (Kelsey Brookfield). Continually delivering messages and running errands are the two Dromios, usually meeting up with the wrong Antipholus and further complicating the situation by having no idea what their supposed master is talking about. The two hapless servants are also often on the receiving end of a punch, slap, or kick for not doing their jobs. (Great work by Trenchard and Hands for their excellent delivery of physical comedy and slapstick humor.)

Mixed up in all this are a goldsmith (Thomas Padden) who believes Antipholus owes him money, an angry merchant (Wayne Cater), the local police, a conjurer named Pinch (Tony Bell), and the Lady Abbess (Chris Myles) of the local priory who has a secret or two of her own.

With only the thinnest of plot and characters who are almost as thin, the play has a lot to offer if treated as the title suggests. Thankfully, Propeller does just that—turning the work into a farce of the highest order. The production moves along at ever-increasing speed with dialogue often delivered with the rapid fire of a machine gun, rolling off the performers’ tongues in a perfect combination of rhyming cadence and deadpan fury.

The characters all play their roles perfectly straight, making the various scenes that much more comical. It also helps that the two sets of “twins” look enough alike so it takes a moment for the audience to determine which is which. Swainsbury is wonderful as a man who sees his very life upended though he knows not why; Hand does a great turn as Adriana, playing a wronged woman for all it’s worth; Newman is a hoot as Luciana, a lady who can drink with the best of them and who is quite versed in the martial arts.

Richard Clothier strikes a good note as the deadpan Duke of Ephesus, managing to keep his sanity while everyone else seems to be losing theirs. Dominic Tighe is quite funny as a local policeman, and Bell is nicely comical as Pinch, the latter role played as a fire-and-brimstone southern preacher. The company also does a nice turn as buskers (street performers) in the theater lobby during the intermission, raising money for charity.

Another nice touch was the addition of cultural flourishes and comments (i.e. “super size me,” “bag of Doritos,” and a nod to “Star Wars”), all of which help to make this work seem continually fresh and alive. Though taking place in ancient times, the story presents a sort of Mexican Cantina feel, with music ranging from “Material Girl” to “The Girl from Ipanema.”

There are more than a few double and triple entendres in the dialogue and a number of off-color situations, but all are presented in a way to tickle one’s sense of humor rather than shock it. Edward Hall’s direction is excellent, never letting the action slow down once the initial expository scene is done and also not allowing the audience time to think about the action logically, at least not until the plot demands it.

Design of the show by Michael Pavelka works quite well, costumes by Bridget Fell are excellent, lighting by Ben Ormerod is good, and original music by Trenchard is strong. On-stage musicians and other acting roles are all played by members of the company.

This production of “The Comedy of Errors” is a delight from start to finish. Propeller has expertly crafted a world where confusion abounds, the improbable becomes possible, and nothing is quite what it seems. Check it out before it closes.

“The Comedy of Errors”
Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvey Theater
651 Fulton Street
Tickets: 718-636-4100 or www.BAM.org
Running Times: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Closes: March 27

Judd Hollander is the New York correspondent for the London publication The Stage.