The Comedy of Errors
Orlando Shakes, Orlando, Florida
By William Shakespeare
starring Robbie Rescigno, Paul Rescigno, Walter Kmeic, Andrés Enriquez, Chris Lindsay, Roberta Emerson, Brandon Roberts, Anne Hering
review by Carl F. Gauze
Shakespearean comedies – so often, they’re just not that funny. But this production hits on all VIII cylinders, delivering laugh after laugh for the entire evening. This is one of the bard’s less promising comedies: a pair of twins is separated at birth, and they each employ one of a different set of twin brothers who are also unknown to each other.
One set is well respected (the Dromios of Ephesus and Syracuse), the other set of servants is employed in the same unusual pairing. One pair leads an important family in Ephesus, the other was lost at sea, just washed on shore, and is trying to scrape by and not lose their heads. The Duke (Chris Lindsay) loves beheading, but gives this pair of strangers a chance to prove their honesty. Now the comedy is off and running with not even the audience completely clear on which servant matches which master. The laughs flow, the difficult iambic pentameter is swept under the carpet, the jokes deliver laughs, and romance builds just because that’s what people have paid to see for centuries.
Highlights abound on a rotating stage with trap doors and at least one set of identical twin actors. Our leads tonight are Robbie and Paul Rescigno as the Dromios of Syracuse and of Ephesus, and the Antipholies of Syracuse and Ephesus are covered by Walter Kmiec and Andrés Enriquez. Beyond their physical appearances, they each keep of their various characters as close as possible in voice and look, and even I couldn’t keep them all straight. The men all ticked off their corresponding female mates: A wife (Roberta Emerson) was smoking mad at her possibly philandering hubby, and vice versa. Supporting the comedy, we find the always rubbery Brandon Roberts as the unpaid goldsmith, and a Duke who laughed so hard he freed everyone, even though by his own law everybody needed a good hanging instead. Supporting actress Anne Hering played the man-hungry nun; she appears late in the show, and after all the confusion begins to settle, she stirs it up a little more.
The opening high house was packed, and I suspect this was a tough ticket to get. The absurdity of the misplaced identical brothers really worked, the use of actual twins who were great comic actors bolstered that success. This Comedy of Errors really delivers on the comedy, and that was due to sticking to the gags that worked 500 years ago.
If you’re thinking you’re not a Shakespeare fan, this show will change your mind. ◼
www.orlandoshakes.org
