Reviews 2018
Reviews 2018
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by William Shakespeare, directed by Keira Loughran
Stratford Festival, Studio Theatre, Stratford
June 1-October 28, 2018
Adriana: “I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me”
The Stratford Festival’s latest production of The Comedy of Errors is given a potentially intriguing concept if it were used wisely. Director Keira Loughran has decided that Shakespeare’s two sets of identical twins will not exactly be identical. In each pair one will be male, one female, who still look so much alike that they can be mistaken for each other. As for the rest of the cast, some dress in accordance with their gender and that of the character they play, but some do not. Has the Ephesus of the play been taken over by the acceptance of transvestism or is Ephesus meant to be a model of gender-fluidity? In either case, the concept only adds confusion to an already confusing play and the acting is so uneven that the production never rises above the level of a university play and often sinks below that level.
According to the Director’s Note of Keira Loughran, “The world of Ephesus in this production is an homage to the history, insights and accomplishments of transgender and gender-fluid communities. Their stories have inspired me to explore what it might take to establish, in the face of persecution, a community that is fiercely committed to inclusion, self-determination and non-conformity”. That might be a noble aspiration, but it ignores the basic fact that the Ephesus in the play is characterized at the very start by persecuting and excluding others, namely Syracusans. If Ephesus is so inclusive why do Syracusans incur the death penalty merely by setting foot there as does Egeon (Gordon Patrick White), who has come there in search of his lost children? If Loughran’s Ephesians were once persecuted, their persecution of others hardly makes them appear the enlightened community she claims them to be.
What makes her concept confusing, besides its ignoring the Ephesians’ xenophobia, is her mixed uses of cross-dressing. Juan Chioran is addressed as the Duke of Ephesus but wears Victorian women’s clothing with one distinctly non-Victorian slit up his long skirt from hem to hip. Rod Beattie dresses as a woman to play Luce the ugly kitchen wench, and then dresses as a man to play the male Dr. Pinch. Sébastien Heins dresses as a Victorian-era prostitute to play the Courtesan of the male Antipholus of Ephesus who dresses as a man. But Emilia, played by Sarah Dodd, who is called an “Abbess” in Shakespeare’s text and dresses as a woman is addressed as “Abbot” in Loughran’s version. Obviously, some actors are dressed as the opposite sex, as Rod Beattie, to make the character they play funnier. But for others like the “Duke”, it is impossible to say whether he is meant to a transvestite or whether he is meant to be a male actor playing a woman.
In having Antipholus of Syracuse (Jessica B. Hill) visit Ephesus disguised as a male Ephesian to search for her lost brother, Loughran does draw on situations in Shakespeare’s later comedies. In Twelfth Night, a woman disguised as a man searches for her lost twin brother. In As You Like It, two women disguise themselves as men to hide their identities. In both a woman becomes perplexed when she falls in love with a man while in disguise. There Shakespeare explicitly explores gender-fluidity and provides his heroines with speeches on the subject. In Comedy, there are no speeches that can be used even vaguely to support Loughran’s concept.
Adding to the confusion of the concept is the unevenness of the acting. As Antipholus of Syracuse, Jessica B. Hill follows the recent trend of young members of the Stratford company in being able to speak Shakespeare with a fine, resonant voice but in being unable to make sense of the words being spoken. In a farce like this where who told whom to do what when is of prime importance, communicating meaning clearly is an absolute necessity. As Antipholus of Ephesus, Qasim Khan, who starts out in too large a fury, is even less understandable than Hill because he shouts rather than projects his lines from start to finish and often loses vocal control.
Fortunately, the two masters have excellent servants. Both Beryl Bain as Dromio of Syracuse and Josue Laboucane as Dromio of Ephesus speak Shakespeare clearly and know how to communicate with an audience. Often we have to look to them to find out what the two Antipholi were just speaking about.
The same contrast exists between Adriana and her sister Luciana. As Adriana, Alexandra Lainfiesta speaks Shakespeare rapidly but communicates little of her words’ meaning, whereas Amelia Sargisson as Luciana can also speak rapidly but can communicate meaning. Sargisson is also more adept at using gestures and physical movement to underscore the sense of what she says. For unknown reasons Loughran decides to have both women make various outbursts in Spanish as if Ephesus were some sort of Spanish enclave in Turkey.
In contrast with the unevenness of the young actors, the older actors are all solid. Juan Chioran is suitably authoritative as the Duke of Ephesus, using his tone of voice to hint that s/he reluctantly must enforce so harsh a law. After hearing Shakespeare’s language generally made a dog’s breakfast for about an hour, it is positively a joy to the ear to hear Sarah Dodd speak with such clarity and feeling as the Abbess Emilia. Jane Spidell speaks so well as the Second Merchant it is a shame her part is not larger. Rod Beattie has the more lines as Dr. Pinch than he does as Luce, and makes the most of Pinch’s attempt to exorcise Antipholus of Ephesus. Unfortunately, Loughran decides to “improve” on Shakespeare by having Pinch accidentally exorcise himself, an effect switched on and off when anyone claps.
Though the play is only about an hour and forty minutes long, by the end you are more exhausted than exhilarated. Loughran tries to slow down the action for the joyful family reunion at the conclusion, but she has done nothing to prepare for this change to a more serious tone earlier in the play, even though the text abounds in lines concerning reality and illusion that she could have emphasized such as Antipholus of Syracuse’s exclamation, “Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell? / Sleeping or waking, mad or well-advised? / Known unto these, and to myself disguised?”
No one will claim that The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare’s greatest comedy, yet if the theme of reality and illusion so favoured by Shakespeare and so prominent in the play is underscored, this complex farce can hold more meaning than people suppose it to have and its ending can be nearly as moving as those that conclude Shakespeare’s Romances. Nancy Meckler proved this possible in her production for the RSC in 2006. That production, however, had a cast of mature, experienced actors and a director willing to bring the best out in Shakespeare’s play rather than impose an untenable concept upon it.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photos: (from top) Beryl Bain as Dromio of Syracuse and Jessica B. Hill as Antipholus of Syracuse; Qasim Khan as Antipholus of Ephesus; Josue Laboucane as Dromio of Ephesus. ©2018 Cylla von Tiedemann.
For tickets, visit www.stratfordfestival.ca
2018-06-03
The Comedy of Errors