Comedy of Errors

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Karen Carleton
Performed in Airfield , Dundrum / Players Theatre, Trinity - Summer 2002

The Comedy of Errors was performed in the gardens of Airfield House, Dundrum. Airfield is a 35 acre estate with working farm, formal gardens, café and shop situated in Dundrum, Dublin. The venue was used not only for the summer Shakespeare, but also for the group's variety show 'Christmas at Airfield'.

Adrianna (Ciara O'Byrne)

Anthipholus (Basil Ashmawy) and Adrianna (Ciara O'Byrne)

Antipholus (Basil Ashmawy) and Dromio (Patrick O'Malley)

Antipholuses (Basil Ashmawy and Jamie Belton)

The Cast in Airfield Gardens

Luciana (Camille Donnegan), Dromio (Patrick O'Malley) and Adrianna (Ciara O'Byrne)

Dromio's (Patrick O Malley and Sean Murphy)

Cast preparing for the show

Luciana (Camille Donnegan) and Antipholuses (Basil Ashmawy

Luciana (Camille Donnegan) and Dromio (Sean Murphy)

Paul Sharpe

Background Note

Shakespeare’s first great comic masterpiece, The Comedy of Errors is a magical farce of madcap confusion. Two sets of identical twins are separated in a shipwreck. Their mistaken identities bring chaos and comic mayhem to the port of Ephesus in the space of a single day.

 

Pandemonium ensues when two sets of twins, separated in a shipwreck when babies, meet up twenty five years later in the town of Ephesus. Mistaken identities create farcical confusion in one of Shakespeare's most hysterical comedies.

 

The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare's first comedy, and definitely one of his funniest. It's a very physical show, and is much different from Shakespeare's other plays because of it's farcical structure. In many ways Comedy of Errors is like watching a great old black and white Marx Brothers or Three Stooges movie. The comedy is fast and furious, and the complex (yet easy to follow) plot gets wilder and wilder.