Karen Schlect, Brent McMorris, and Carl Dahlquist.
Dramaturgical analysis be damned – in my universe, sometimes a banana is just a banana, and a comedy is just a comedy. Canon Shakespeare Company’s current production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (on stage at Twilight’s Performing Arts Theater) is a classic example of this principle. Any attempt to dwell on alienation, the meaning of identity, or the tragedy of families or neighboring duchies being torn apart by unwarranted disputes (yeah, that’s YOU I’m talking to, Mr. Putin) cheapens a play that is already, in many ways, quite cheap enough! Director Alec Henneberger and his cast deliver straight up slapstick farce that would probably make The Bard proud.
The play moves quickly, and is premised on an absurdly exaggerated set of coincidences that can leave unwary audience members scratching their heads, unless they are given a heads up. Here’s the set-up, with no pretense of brevity: Syracusan merchant Egeon and his wife had identical twin sons, both inexplicably named Antipholus. Shortly after the twins’ birth, Egeon purchased a pair of infants, twins Dromio and Dromio (seeing a pattern here?) as slaves for his sons. While on a sea voyage, the family (and boat, presumably) is torn apart by a fierce tempest; Egeon saves one son and slave but carelessly loses track of his wife, who saves the other pair of infants. Time passes, and now-adult Antipholus of Syracuse goes off in search of his missing brother. When Antipholus doesn’t return, Egeon sets out to look for him and finds himself in Ephesus. This is not good - Ephesus and Syracuse are at odds, and merchants from Syracuse are forbidden to enter Ephesus on pain of death. Egeon is captured and confined until he can come up with 1000 marks as ransom; hoping for mercy he tells his tragic tale of loss to the Duke of Ephesus. Coincidentally, Antipholus (of Syracuse) and Dromio (of Syracuse) have arrived in Ephesus, unaware that the missing brother and slave are actually Antipholus of Ephesus and Dromio of Ephesus. Neither the townspeople, the slaves, Adriana (wife of Antipholus of Ephesus), nor the two brothers are able to distinguish between the identical twins, and mistaken identities lead to a series of misunderstandings, beatings, seductions, and other tomfoolery for two acts leading to (surprise!) reconciliations all around.
In an interesting little twist, the role of the Duke is played each night by an audience member who is not given advance notice of their assignment, and who reads the Duke’s lines from a screen on stage. The rest of the parts are filled via more conventional casting protocols, with nine experienced actors filling the remaining fourteen roles. High points of a very lively, if occasionally chaotic preview night production include Stephanie Crowley’s gold merchant Angelo – by Act II, her crisp control of her increasing rage is truly memorable. Speaking of rage (if not control), Katy Deri’s frenetic take on Antipholus of Syracuse is definitely worth watching, although I found the decision to keep one of their shoes off for convenient slave-beating a bit distracting. Despite a few mangled lines, Karen Schlect (as Antipholus of Ephesus’ wife Adriana) delivers an impressive dose of genuine emotion, unexpected and very welcome in a play where the general theme is over-the-top farce.
Four stars to Ira Kortum, who spends an inordinate amount of time chained up as Egeon, stoically awaiting his doom (and generally messing with the audience) – when released from confinement he simply sparkles as the lovely and impatient maid, Luce. The rest of the cast (Genevieve Larson, Carl Dahlquist, Sean Christopher Franson, Kari Warfield, and Brent McMorris) all acquit themselves with high humor - I would especially like to see Warfield in a meatier role.
The Comedy of Errors will of course be fun for Shakespeare aficionados (who should all appreciate a little lowbrow humor). However, it is especially appropriate (with a minuscule amount of preparation) for people put off or intimidated by the Bard’s reputation for Important Drama - they will find this production to be extremely accessible and non-threatening. Now that most live local theater is opening up, hie yourself to North Portland for a couple of hours of entertainment – this is the last week of the run!
Canon Shakespeare Company’s The Comedy of Errors is playing at Twllight’s Performing Arts Theater, 7515 N. Brandon Avenue, Portland through Sunday, May 8th with 8:00 PM performances on May 6/7 and 3:00 PM matiness May 7/8.
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