Live Shakespeare is back, the same but different. In Stratford, the current run of The Comedy of Errors is being performed in the imposing, outdoor Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Garden Theatre. The RSC states that it is 'a ready-made, sustainable theatre which can be reassembled for other uses in the future'. Presumably they mean, when pestilence strikes again. But so it has always been with theatres, the original Globe having been moved from the north bank of the Thames, over the water to Southwark, its current resting place. Theatres, more than most establishments, have to be able to adapt to the demands of the zeitgeist. And so it was that the outdoor theatre added something organic and alive to the performance that I went to see. The daddy long legs that darted into your hair as they were caught in a frenzied dance in the theatre spot lights seemed evidence of the charged air that the performance, and its audacity, created. When we were seated at 6.30pm we had to wait a further thirty minutes for the show to start due to microphone issues. How exciting, to be part of something so precarious.
The RSC has pulled out all the stops with this interpretation of The Comedy of Errors, looking to give one thing only to its post-pandemic, much-needed audience: Laughter. It delivers with bells on. From the very opening, the sophistication was obvious, as Ephesus was a creation that might be loosely seen as 1980's Dubai meets Dynasty, which, given the themes of money and trade that form the backdrop to the main plot, was inspired and apt. In his telling of his own story of shipwreck and heartbreak, Egeon's words are set to life by the other cast members who sway in unison to indicate that they are aboard ship. Straight away, these clever tricks of storytelling help to make the plotting of the play very clear. Because, the great danger of the mistaken identity plays is that the audience becomes too confused in the ensuing plot confusion. And the confusion was displayed with energy, innovation but above all, joy. The cast seemed to be having the time of their lives and it was infectious, the audience gave it right back to them with whoops and applause throughout.
There were many notable scenes of humour, in fact, if the text allowed it, there was a play on words in every scene. If not there was slap stick farce and ridiculous costumes to keep up the comedy. Alfred Clay's Doctor Pinch as yoga instructor/charlatan is hard to forget, his tiny hot pants a source of humour in their own right. Equally, the restaurant scene, in which Dyfrig Morris, as waiter, nearly loses his toupee in Antipholus' supper was pulled off with such Monty Pythonesque straight acting that the audience was rendered hysterical.
"There's no time for a man to recover his hair that grows bald by nature."
Too. Much.
Play within a play was used to brilliant effect when Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse discuss the kitchen wench. Both characters acquired microphones and performed the lines as if they were delivering a stand-up comedy routine. At one point, Antipholus asked the audience to bear with them as the jokes were over 400 years old. It worked. It was new and it worked. The RSC has to innovate but sometimes they miss the mark. Not this time.
Director Phillip Breen, on learning that his Aemilia (Hedydd Dylan), was pregnant and due in December, decided to incorporate her physical state into the performance. This worked so well that I heard a couple, on leaving the theatre discussing this and deciding that it must be a fake bump and part of the play's text. You can see why they would think this. Aemilia being pregnant becomes like a ticking bomb to the great confusion of the play. Given her condition, her increasingly erratic and wild diatribes to Antipholus seem entirely understandable. It seemed to give her a licence to ramp up the crazy another notch. Dylan was the shining light of the cast and, knowing that her bump was real, I genuinely feared that the exertion (at one point she adopts a side plank and if you know, you know!) she put into the performance might result in her going into labour on stage. I'm sure Breen had a strategy for that as well.
The Comedy of Errors is a play that has a lot to say about madness and identity. The madness gives a lot of laughs but it is the resolution and reunion at the end that render our characters whole. It is a profoundly hopeful play and the perfect choice to open the season and resume our new normal.
No comments:
Post a Comment