Chicago Shakespeare Theatre presents COMEDY OF ERRORS Review — A Company in Full Bloom

If you’re not rushing to curtain time, you might want to stroll along the pier and enjoy the transition outside from winter to spring. The Ferris wheel revolves slowly, tourists eat fudgy wafer cones, exhibitioners take breaks from setting up their booths, skyline boats wait to begin their cruises. 

You may also want to consider the transition inside: CST founder Barbara Gaines, who directed Comedy of Errors as her last production as artistic director, will soon step down. The show has some signature Gaines’ twists, many familiar faces and an energy that hasn’t waned since she mounted her first CST production above a pub in 1986. 

The posters tell us and the opening moments verify that this Comedy of Errors, a farcical romp involving two pairs of identical twins, will push us to think about much more than comic mishaps. We’re not in Elizabethan England and we’re certainly not in the play’s mythical Mediterranean island setting. Instead, we’re at Shepperton Studios outside London during the Blitz.

As the character of Egeon recounts the separation of his twins at sea and other characters pantomime the incident, a camera crew records it in the rough newsreel style of 1940. We get the signal: This production uses Shakespeare’s play as a mattress on which to bounce another comedy. In fact, there’s an entire script by Ron West to support the conceit of making a film version of Comedy of Errors to lift spirits during wartime. The tone is wacky and the plot is complicated.

Oh, those actors. Age is tossed aside and actors with long, distinguished resumes take on youthful roles. Most notably, and for this viewer, delightfully are Ross Lehman and Kevin Gudahl as servants Dromio of Syracuse and Dromio of Ephesus. With curly wigs and plaid shirts that conjure a summer vacation package, Lehman and Gudahl pull off the mistaken-identity antics with gusto. Susan Moniz evokes Lucille Ball in her Shakespeareans scenes as the young wife Adriana, then vamps it in the Shepperton Studio scenes as the director’s discontent wife.

CAST:

CREATIVE TEAM:

Barbara Gaines Director

James Noone Scenic Designer

Mieka van der Ploeg Costume Designer

Ken Posner Lighting Designer

Lindsay Jones Composer & Sound Designer

Richard Jarvie Hair & Make Up Designer

Larry Yando Verse Coach

Charlotte Rivard-Hoster Music Director

Peter G. Andersen Associate Director

Gregory Geffrard Intimacy Director

Bruce A. Young Fight Choreographer

Kathy Logelin Dialect Coach

Martine Kei Green-Rogers Dramaturg

Courtney Abbott Assistant Intimacy Director

Katrina Herrmann Production Stage Manager

Elisabeth Schapmann Assistant Stage Manager

WHEN:

March 9 - April 16, 2023

WHERE:

Shakespeare Theater
Navy Pier800 East Grand Avenue
Chicago

TICKETS:

$35+

For more information and tickets visit the Chicago Shakespeare Theater website.

Photos: Liz Lauren