by Maria Staiano-Daniels
Daily Lobo
The goal of the Adobe Theater's presentation of Shakespeare's "Comedie of Erors," showing weekends through Oct. 2, is to get people laughing, said director Rick Wiles.
"'Comedie of Erors' is a farce, which is the broadest kind of comedy," he said.
The plot revolves around two sets of identical twins separated at birth. Each set shares the same name, two Antipholuses and two Dromios. When all four men end up in the same city, confusion reigns, and the laughs begin.
From the beginning of the play it is clear Wiles is determined to make "Comedie of Erors" as broad a comedy as possible.
The play opens with the sound of the actors panicking backstage, cries of "Quiet, they'll hear us!" and "Where's my codpiece?" From that moment, "Comedie of Erors" revels in pie-in-the-face antics, including chase scenes, "missed" cues, cat fights and liberal use of a red and white striped whacking stick.
The main difficulty with staging Shakespeare plays, according to Wiles, is that everyone has a good part.
"Finding that many good actors is difficult," he said.
For this production, he seems to have hit a gold mine of talent. The actors are all members of The American Shakespeare Project, a group of volunteers who share a passion for the Bard.
Of the formidable cast, Drew Groves and Kelly O'Keefe, who play both Antipholuses and both Dromios respectively, are absolutely amazing.
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Groves creates a recognizably different character for each Antipholus, and switches between them from one scene to the next. O'Keefe is skilled at physical comedy and takes a surprising amount of punishment as both Dromios.
Lori Stewart and Joanna Michnovicz, who play the two female leads Adriana and Luciana, are also phenomenal.
Micnovicz has a rich, melodious delivery that does full justice to Shakespeare's beautiful lines, while Stewart plays the first Antipholus's nagging wife to perfection.
Some smaller parts that stood out were Ken Orth's Dr. Pinch - a sort of drunken, Southern revivalist preacher in pseudo-Elizabethan clothing, and Jill Stacey's Luce, a hideous kitchen wench engaged to one of the Dromios.
The Adobe Theater is an intimate setting, seating 50 people, tops. Wiles uses this to his advantage.
Actors often address individual audience members directly, and in one scene two conversations occur simultaneously on opposite ends of the theater, making the audience's heads whip back and forth like spectators at a tennis match.
Those who slept through Shakespeare in high school - or last semester - might be surprised to learn that he can be outrageously funny.
"Comedie of Erors" is packed with enough fart jokes to satisfy the average 10 year old, and yet you still feel intelligent for watching it.
The play moves at warp speed through all five acts, and even the long, explanatory monologues that make students groan to read in school are full of snappy humor.
