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Theater review: Comedy of Errors
Oct. 17th, 2024 11:35 pmI don't know if I've ever fallen quite so hard for a specific production of a play I didn't already have strong feelings about as the STC's Comedy of Errors, but I ended up seeing it three times. This production turned the comedic sidekicks into main characters by casting Alex Brightman and David Fynn (who both played the lead role in the School of Rock musical, on Broadway and the West End, respectively) as long-lost twins Dromio and Dromio, servants of long-lost twins Antipholus and Antipholus. It's also a musical, and is apparently set in the '90s, although the set/costume design is sort of a grab bag of aesthetics. (You can get a sense here.)
This turned out to be a great show to see multiple times, because I saw a slightly different cast each time— the second night I went had the understudy for both Dromios covering for Brightman as Dromio of Syracuse, and the third had the Antipholi's understudy as Antipholus of Syracuse. (Plus trickle-down shifts in the ensemble parts, as the understudies' understudies stepped in.) Even aside from that, the performances were noticeably different each time: a lot of ad-libbing and improvised physical comedy bits, and last night I noticed that both Brightman and Fynn played some scenes differently than they had in the previous show(s).
This show was very much designed around Brightman and Fynn— who are both phenomenal physical comedians, and look enough alike that between the costuming, slight-of-hand staging, and playing their roles with uncannily similar mannerisms, the first time I saw this it took me fully until Act 2 to figure out how to tell them apart, and by that point I'd long since lost track of which Dromio was paired with which Antipholus— but honestly, the entire cast is fantastic. Just 10/10 comedic timing all around, but especially Shayvawn Webster, who plays Antipholus of Ephesus' long-suffering wife Adriana. I also think one of the things that charmed me so much about this show is how the cast clearly has a lot of fun performing it??
Last night's performance had a post-show discussion with some of the ensemble cast and someone from the production team, so I learned some fun details from that:
( Read more... )
This turned out to be a great show to see multiple times, because I saw a slightly different cast each time— the second night I went had the understudy for both Dromios covering for Brightman as Dromio of Syracuse, and the third had the Antipholi's understudy as Antipholus of Syracuse. (Plus trickle-down shifts in the ensemble parts, as the understudies' understudies stepped in.) Even aside from that, the performances were noticeably different each time: a lot of ad-libbing and improvised physical comedy bits, and last night I noticed that both Brightman and Fynn played some scenes differently than they had in the previous show(s).
This show was very much designed around Brightman and Fynn— who are both phenomenal physical comedians, and look enough alike that between the costuming, slight-of-hand staging, and playing their roles with uncannily similar mannerisms, the first time I saw this it took me fully until Act 2 to figure out how to tell them apart, and by that point I'd long since lost track of which Dromio was paired with which Antipholus— but honestly, the entire cast is fantastic. Just 10/10 comedic timing all around, but especially Shayvawn Webster, who plays Antipholus of Ephesus' long-suffering wife Adriana. I also think one of the things that charmed me so much about this show is how the cast clearly has a lot of fun performing it??
Last night's performance had a post-show discussion with some of the ensemble cast and someone from the production team, so I learned some fun details from that:
( Read more... )
