REVIEW: Shakespeare & Company: So, you don’t like Shakespeare…or you think you don’t like Shakespeare

REVIEW: Shakespeare & Company, “The Comedy of Errors”

Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA

www.shakespeare.org

through August 18, 2024

by Shera Cohen

So, you don’t like Shakespeare…or you think you don’t like Shakespeare

Photo by Katie McKellick

Every decade or so, I write an article focused on my annual visits to Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA (S&Co). At the same time, each year, I make a point that my Plus 1 guest is a person who falls into either of the categories of this article’s title.

My mission is to convert Bard naysayers to Team Will Cheerleaders. Okay, that’s a big challenge. At the very least, I hope to help others appreciate the stories of 500-years-ago and realize that perhaps there are lots of things about attending live performances that can be enjoyable.

“The Comedy of Errors,” running July 13-August 18 at S&Co, as the venues “big play” of the season, is an ideal piece of theatre for novices for a variety of reasons. 

1) This is, as the title states, a comedy; far easier to understand than the dramas or history plays. If some of the language is difficult, the actors’ movements onstage (a lot of running around) fill in the blanks. You don’t need to understand every word. You won’t, and that’s okay. A suggestion would be to ask any of the many kids in the audience. They “get it”!

2. The time period is Coney Island in the early 1900’s. Oh, not in the 1500’s somewhere in Italy? Would Shakespeare approve of S&Co taking such liberties with his work? I think so. In fact, I believe that he would be the first to applaud the creativity of a different era and location that never existed in his own lifetime.

Photo by Katie McKellick

3. S&Co takes its productions very seriously, but no one says that you can’t laugh hysterically as well. Its directors, set and costume designers, and vocal coaches are all pros, many of whom are experts on the Bard.

S&Co has replicated the original Globe Theatre in England on an open-air stage, mounting the play on its outdoor amphitheater. The story takes place on flat wooden flooring in the center base surrounded by seating for approximately 200. There is nearly always a full house.

4. Adjectives that describe “Errors” are fun & fast, colorful & crazed, loud & louder. Be assured that every Bard play at S&Co has music; “Errors’” is honky-tonk and jazz. Actors wear a lot of day-glow yellow and motley attire. The lighting is a mix of electronics with nature when the sun gradually dims on the 7pm show.

5. The plots of Shakespeare’s comedies are, for the most part, similar: mistaken identity, usually twins mistaken for each other. In the case of “Errors,” there are two sets of twins; double the laughter, double the gymnastics, and double the pratfalls.

Experience “The Comedy of Errors”. You might not be a convert, but you will have fun.