This summer’s Shakespeare in the Park started off with a bang… literally, with machine-gun wielding nuns. The Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park rendition of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, starring Hamish Linklater and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, was the talk of the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. The play ran from June 18th until the 30th, so hopefully you went out and saw this absurdly funny show.
This Shakespearean comedy focuses on a pair of identical twins, Antipholus (x2) and their identical twin slaves, Dromio (x2). One set of twins resides in Syracuse while the other remains in Ephesus unbeknownst to one another. By happenstance, the twins from Syracuse wander into Ephesus, where they unknowingly begin to be confused for their siblings. The plot is a telltale recipe for absurdity—and in that the play does not fall short, as the duo stumble upon the wives, mistresses and debts of their unknown twins.
Director Daniel Sullivan relocates the play from the Ancient Greek city to upstate New York in the 1940s. For skeptics who find Shakespearean language too dense to possibly be funny (after all, we no longer live in 1594, although I long for the days), this is the play for you as well. Sullivan skillfully manages to intermingle some visual aids to assist in the jokes, with bright-colored sets, enchanting swing dancing, and slapstick humor (which includes a moment when a mistaken Dromio gets a plate of spaghetti dumped on his head)—reforms that help bring the play to modern playgoers. This play is 90 minutes of sheer delight.
Typically, The Comedy of Errors is enacted with two sets of non-twin actors who appear very similar. However, in this rendition Sullivan demanded more from his actors, and the payoff was astounding. Actor Hamish Linklater, of The Seminar, plays Antipholus, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, better known for his role as Mitchell Pritchett on Modern Family, plays Dromio. Each actor plays one set of twins, making them the perfect “identical twins.” The challenge in doing so is that the exits and entrances are almost immediate; for example, when one Dromio exits, the other enters. Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Linklater were seamless in their miraculous reappearances on set and left audience members confounded. The final scene where the confusion is revealed and the twins come face to face with one another was particularly well coordinated so that the audience never sees the faces of the body doubles, leaving the illusion blissfully intact.
It was not only Linklater and Ferguson who made this play so droll. The entire cast was a hoot and a half, putting on a great performance: actors such as Jonathan Hadary, as Egeon, the father of the Antipholus twins, Skipp Suduth as the Duke, and Dromio of Ephesus’s robust Fiance. The performance could not have been more enjoyable.
If you are ever in New York over the summer, it is a cardinal sin not to attend Shakespeare in the Park. Tickets are free and available by waiting outside the Delacorte Theatre from about 6am-12pm or by entering an online raffle (for the less adventurous folk). Either way you get an enjoyable night in Central Park with friends and a great experience. Oh, and you get to see a play.