The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors, one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, is based on Roman playwright Plautus’s comedy of mistaken identity, The Twin Menaechmi, in which long lost brothers are reunited after a series of mix-ups and close encounters. Shakespeare doubles the merriment and the complications of his source material by providing not one, but two sets of twins, the Antipholi and the Dromios, born in Epidamnun, but separated in their infancy during a storm at sea on their homeward return.

Egeon, father to the twin Antipholi, rescues one of his sons and his son’s bondsman, named Dromio, and sails home to Syracuse where he raises the boys. Emilia, wife to Egeon and mother to the Antipholi twins, is captured by fishermen and taken to Ephesus with the other twin boys, where she is not heard of again and where the boys grow up on their own.

Years pass, and Antipholi of Ephesus seeks permission from his father to go in search of his twin brother, taking with him Dromio of Ephesus. After two years without word from his son, Egeon sets out on his own to find the young men, arriving five years later in Ephesus, where enmity between his homeland and the Ephesians has escalated. A decree has gone forth that any Syracusan found in Ephesus must pay a ransom of 1,000 ducats or be put to death. Egeon, captured and now penniless is given until 5:00 PM to raise the sum or he must die.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Egeon, Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse have also arrived in Ephesus, home to the twin brothers they have been seeking. The “boys from Syracuse” take temporary refuge within the hostile city, and much to their astonishment begin to be greeted by merchants and townspeople who seem to know them, along with a woman who claims to be married to Antipholus and another who swears she is betrothed to Dromio. The mix-ups, mayhem, and madness spiral faster and faster through the day until the appointed hour at which Egeon must pay his ransom or lose his life.

GRSF sets its 2010 season production of The Comedy of Errors in the seaport city of New Orleans, circa 1931 during Mardi Gras, a time of merry-making, magic, mystery, disguise, and often outrageous behavior. Paul Barnes, GRSF Producing Director directs the production, joined by costume designer Meg Weedon (Macbeth, ’07, The Merchant of Venice, ’08, The Tempest and Love’s Labour’s Lost, ’09), set designer Erik Paulson (GRSF Technical Director, ’04 – ’09), lighting designer Lonnie Alcaraz (GRSF, ’08 and ’09), and composer/musical director Jack Forbes Wilson (GRSF debut).

Estimated running time: 2 hours 20 minutes, including intermission.