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by William Shakespeare, directed by Richard Monette

Stratford Festival, Avon Theatre, Stratford

June 2-October 26, 2007

"Fie, now you run this humour out of breath"

Take “Laugh-In”, the Three Stooges, Austin Powers and an early comedy by Shakespeare, put them in a blender, pulverize and you have Stratford’s current production of “The Comedy of Errors”.  This is the last time Richard Monette directs Shakespeare at Stratford as Artistic Director and by the end of the performance that seems a blessing.  This is Stratford’s 200th Shakespearean production and it is depressing to see how far the Festival has fallen.  There are errors here but little comedy.

“The Comedy of Errors” is Shakespeare’s shortest play and one of his earliest, written sometime between 1592 and 1594.  Shakespeare combines features from two plays by the Roman playwright Plautus (c. 254-c. 184 BC).  From “Menaechmi” he takes the idea of identical twins who have grown up in different cities and from “Amphitruo” he takes the idea of twin servants with the same name.  What we get is a play set in Ephesus at a time of hostility between Ephesus and Syracuse when it is death for any Syracusan to set foot in Ephesus.  Such is the fate of the aged merchant Egeon, who tells Duke Solinus, ruler of the city, how he had twin sons waited on by twin servants, but how eighteen years ago he, his wife and they all became separated in the aftermath of a shipwreck.  Since Egeon cannot pay the fine, he must be executed.  Soon his son Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio arrive in Ephesus seeking their counterparts only to be mistaken for the Antipholus and Dromio who live in Ephesus.  Much confusion ensues.

For most people this play ranks rather low on the list both of Shakespeare’s plays in general and of his comedies in particular.  Yet, with its themes of illusion and reality, madness and time as healer, the play looks forward to greater works by Shakespeare like “Twelfth Night” and the late romances.  Indeed, as Nancy Meckler’s fine production for the RSC in 2005 demonstrated, if the anguish of Egeon and the mental distress of the two Antipholi is taken seriously, the play’s ending can achieve the kind of emotional resonance and sense of release one finds at the conclusion of “Twelfth Night”.

Unfortunately, most directors see the work as nothing more than a slapstick farce.  Even more unfortunately, Monette sees the play as merely a convenient receptacle in which to toss every gag he has ever used.  Shakespeare’s play is there somewhere, but it collapses from the weight of the mountain of junk Monette has amassed. 

The destruction of the play begins with the very first scene.  Egeon delivers his long expository speech to Solinus and what appears to be a masked Greek chorus.  After every four or five words the chorus reacts in unison with sighs, shouts, laughter, weeping, etc., thus completely distracting us from what Egeon says.  The first interruption garners laughter from the audience, the second less, till finally there is none.  Unlike Antipholus of Ephesus in Act 4, Monette doesn’t seem to realize that the same joke used too often eventually is not funny.  Solinus mispronounces “Ephesus” and adjusts his dentures every time he says it.  Monette’s signature screaming “Komedy Kat” runs across the stage not once but thrice.  The Courtesan’s electric headdress lights up every time she has an idea.  Amplified cartoon sound effects accompany every slapstick whack or punch and kiddie music accompanies every silly chase around the set.  There is no joke that Monette does not flog to death.

Besides this, Monette’s idea of interpreting the text is to have the actors act out Shakespeare’s plays on words as if we were ignoramuses and to create puns wherever he can.  “Oh nay!” the chorus exclaims in the first scene, whereupon the actor playing one of the Duke’s horses neighs.  What wit!  As if that were not enough, Monette loads the play with in-jokes.  Egeon marches across the stage holding a sign reading “My end is near.”  The second time he crosses it he turns the sign around to show a blowup of the Stratford season brochure with Monette on the cover.  This is his last year as Artistic Director, geddit?  The camel from “My One and Only” rolls by with an advertisement for that show.  Later we get another advertisement for “Oklahoma!”  Monette has been accused before of anything-for-a-joke direction, but here he takes it into the realm of chaos.

Monette says in his director’s note: “As I stood in front of the library in Ephesus, a great cloud passed over and when the sun returned I had a feeling of having passed through time. I decided that if I ever had the chance to direct The Comedy of Errors again, I would set it in the city of ancient Ephesus.”  Unfortunately, the time Monette was transported to was not the second century BC but the early 1960s.  Set designer Michael Gianfrancesco gives us the façade of the Library of Celsus with its ranks of three doors and windows, but he has also placed doors in the Magritte-like sky glimpsed between the door jambs.  Dana Osborne’s costumes refer to ancient togas and chitons, but dyed or even tie-dyed in Sixties-ish colours. 

Despite the extraordinarily broad acting style Monette has encouraged, some actors actually remain intent on delivering their lines with some degree of sensitivity.  Chief among them is Brian Tree as Egeon, who maintains his concentration despite constant interruption.  The same is true for Chick Reid as the Abbess, who struggles against the current to bring some dignity to the final scene. The main advantage of casting Bruce Dow as Dromio of Syracuse and Steve Ross as Dromio of Ephesus is that they look so much alike we do actually become confused about which is which.  The same is not true of David Snelgrove and Tom McCamus as the Antipholi of Syracuse and Ephesus, who are not matched in looks or age.  Both Dow and Ross are very funny and would have a greater impact if the whole show were not so hyped up. 

Otherwise, most of the play comes out as meaningless bluster even from such fine actors as Ian Deakin (Duke Solinus), Allegra Fulton (Adriana), Sophia Walker (Luciana) and Walter Borden (Dr. Pinch).  The two most annoying performances come from Lawrence Haegert as a hippie-style hopheaded Balthasar and Brigit Wilson as a baby-voiced Courtesan, whose bizarre New York accent in which she replaces both L’s and R’s with W’s is nearly impossible to understand.

During one of the Abbess’s important final speeches when all the hidden relations are about to be revealed, Monette decides to have someone in a man-sized penguin suit wander across the stage and into the abbey.  On its back is a sign “For the critics”.  I assume that in doing this Monette is figuratively giving the critics “the bird”.  If so, I heartily return the sentiment.            

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.

Photo: Brigit Wilson, Paul Fauteux, Tom McCamus and Allegra Fulton. ©David Hou.