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The Comedy of Errors Study Guide

Lydia Magalhaes, dramaturg

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Table of Contents

Dramaturg’s Note………………………………………………….……...3

Director’s Note……………………………………………………………4

Synopsis……………………………………………………………..…….5

Introduction to the Play………………………………………………..…..6

Vaudeville Theatre………………………………………………………...7

Shakespeare’s Words Activity……………………………………...…..…8 Production Notes………………………………………………………9-11 Discussion Questions…………………………………………………….12

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Dramaturg’s Note Hello, my name is Lydia Magalhaes, and I am the dramaturg for Theatre Simpson’s

production of The Comedy of Errors. As dramaturg, I am responsible for looking up information

pertinent to the production such as background on Shakespeare, definitions of words, elements of

the play, and information on the setting of the play. The dramaturg creates a bridge between the

audience and the production so that everyone has the information they need to understand and

enjoy the show.

I first heard of The Comedy of Errors when I was a first year student in high school. My

high school did a number of abbreviated Shakespeare plays. The Comedy of Errors was one of

those pieces. At the time, I didn’t think there was anything remarkable about the show. In fact, I

thought it was a little silly and far-fetched that these things would happen. As I have researched

the play and the technical aspects of the show, I have come to appreciate how interesting and

genuinely funny this show is. I hope you will also enjoy the show.

I have enjoyed researching this production. I have come to realize that a show cannot be

divorced from its context or the work that goes into it from different departments. I hope you will

discover this as well in the study guide and when watching the show.

Thank you, Lydia Magalhaes

Dramaturg

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The Comedy of Errors

By William Shakespeare

Directorial Notes—A Plan for the Production

The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare’s shortest play, is a wild farce of mistaken identities and implausible missteps. For the comedy to work the most obvious solutions must be ignored. A brother searching the world for his twin is shocked when he arrives in a town and everyone seems to know him. Does he ever consider that his brother, who he is searching for, might be there? No, he assumes the town is bewitched. Of course, if the characters took a moment and thought logically through the situations the solutions would be so obvious that there would be no play.

The play is a farce, but it is a story of a family torn apart. As we watch the misunderstandings get more tangled we hope that everything will be unwound in time to save a father’s life and reunite the family. Perhaps the lesson learned is that when we are so fixated on what we think is going on we cannot see what is right in front of us.

Historically we can track the slapstick comic form of this play from Shakespeare’s source, Plautus’ Menaechmi, through Italian commedia dell’arte, and on to Vaudeville and the Music Halls. The world of Vaudeville is where we place our production. Rather than getting tied to a specific time and place (e.g. 1920s Vaudeville in the U.S. or 1880s British Music Halls) I want to create a playful and theatrical world that draws on these influences. The play is full of anachronisms (ducats, marks, and guilders in the ancient city of Ephesus, mention of modern European countries, etc.) so allowing for anachronisms in the production makes sense. (And really the play is not about “making sense” since none of the character worry much about logic.)

The production opens in an abandoned Vaudeville theatre. It is a dark and stormy night and a young woman comes to the theatre to get away from her troubles. Can the magic of the theatre change her outlook?

An interesting element in Vaudeville is the use of male and female impersonators. It is a highly theatrical and performative device that captures the spirit of our production. The image to the left is of “The Four Little Dudes” from a Victorian photography card. These women are the inspiration for our Dromios.

Jennifer Ross Nostrala Director

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Synopsis The Comedy of Errors

By William Shakespeare The play opens with a merchant, Egeon, telling of his misfortune in losing his twin sons

and wife. He has been arrested because Syracuse and Ephesus are not friendly at this time. We

learn that one son has gone in search of the other. Antipholous of Syracuse and his servant

Dromio of Syracuse arrive in Ephesus in search of the lost twin. The two of them become

convinced that they are bewitched after the residents know them. Antipholous of Ephesus and

Dromio of Ephesus become equally confused when they are accused of acting out of character.

One Antipholus is told he has a wife while the married twin is locked out of his house. One has a

chain that the other is asked to pay for and so on. Along the way, there are many insults, jokes,

and word plays. In the end, all is resolved with the family happily reunited once more.

One of the main reasons the play is able to move forward is thanks to mistaken identity.

Although Antipholous of Syracuse knows he has a twin and comes to find him, he never thinks

he might be mistaken for his twin. Some reasons for that is he had heard there were witches in

this place. Antipholous might not be expecting to find his twin. The two are never seen together

until the end of the play. (What are some other reasons, no one might suspect twins? What do

you think the most likely reason is?)

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Background

Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors is believed to be one of his first works. It is only

found in the First Folio, the first compilation of Shakespeare’s work. As the director mentioned,

this style of comedy was nothing new. What makes this comedy interesting is it reimagined an

old idea and made it more relevant and long lasting. Errors are what drive the play forward.

These are petty problems which the character must surmount. This means that the story is not

one of grand gestures or change but rather an experiment in what if1.

This brings us then to the cast of characters. Each of the main characters has a problem or

confusion that needs to be resolved.

Antipholous of Syracuse:

Trying to find his brother

Thinks he is bewitched

Antipholous of Ephesus

Wants to eat dinner at home

Dromio of Syracuse

Wants to serve

Confused about jobs

Dromio of Ephesus

Confused about jobs

Egeon

Needs money to avoid beheading

Andriana

Wants to have her husband to herself

Luciana

Her sister’s husband seems to be in love with her

                                                                                                                         1  Levin,  Harry  The  Comedy  of  Errors  Signet  Classics  1965  

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Vaudeville Theatre

Part of the dramaturg’s job is to research the setting for the production. Our setting is

Vaudeville theatre. Using the websites below, find the information to complete the sentences.

http://broadwayscene.com/vaudeville-americnas-vibrant-art-form-with-a-short-lifetime

http://virtualvaudeville.com/hypermediaNotes/WhatIsVaudevilleF.html

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/easton/vaudeville/vaudevillemain.html

In the United States and Canada, Vaudeville theatre lasted _______ years from ______ to _____.

_________ was responsible for the decline in popularity.

Typically, there were _______ acts each lasting ________.

___________ came from Vaudeville caricatures.

______, _______, and ________ were incorporated into Vaudeville theatre.

The father of American Vaudeville is ________________________.

Pastor ________ language and provided __________ to patrons.

From the information you gathered, write a summary of Vaudeville theatre or discuss it as a class.

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Words of Shakespeare Match the words on the left to their definition on the right.

Intestine Hasten

Hap Head

Bark Joke

Pate Inclined to anger

Wind Internal

Hie Ship

Beshrew Deceit

Jest Perjured

Choleric Bribe

Error Chance

Mated Curse

Suborned Bewildered

Forswore Breathe

Use www.shakespeareswords.com for help

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Costuming

The image on the left is the inspiration photo for Adriana’s dress in the production. The image on the right is the design for Adriana’s dress.

The designer, Jess Guthrie, had this to say about designing this costume:

When  designing  for  a  strong  concept,  such  as  the  vaudeville  troupe  in  this  show,  it  can  be  fun,  and  kind  of  challenging,  to  figure  out  how  each  character  fits  into  the  concept  while  still  remaining  true  to  the  original  character.  Frequently,  a  strong  concept  can  overwhelm  the  characters,  especially  in  Shakespeare.  So  as  I  set  out  to  make  these  Shakespearean  characters  make  sense  in  the  world  the  director  outlined,  I  tried  very  hard  to  NOT  impose  choices  upon  the  characters,  but  rather  let  the  characters  suggest  how  they  might  fit  into  this  world.  The  sisters  were  a  bit  trickier.  They  aren’t  twins,  so  we  couldn’t  rely  on  the  same  convention  of  almost  identical  costumes  as  we  did  for  the  sets  of  twins.  But,  they  still  needed  to  “go”  together,  and  fit  thematically  in  this  world  we  are  creating.  A  lot  of  the  vaudevillian  performer’s  clothing  I  found  in  research  could  pass  for  “normal”  clothing  of  the  day,  but  we  really  wanted  the  troupe  to  be  immediately  identifiable  as  performers,  not  just  people  in  period  clothes.  In  doing  research  on  vaudeville/music  hall  actors  and  acts,  I  found  an  image  of  a  woman  wearing  a  sun/moon  dress.  I  was  drawn  to  the  silhouette  of  the  woman  in  the  sun/moon  dress,  as  it  evokes  a  period,  but  isn’t  something  you’d  see  on  the  street.  The  sun/moon  aspect  of  the  dress  was  intriguing  to  me,  as  well,  as  it  suggests  two  parts  of  a  whole…kind  of  like  the  two  sisters.  The  sisters  needed  to  be  tied  together  thematically,  but  not  matching.    In  the  vaudevillian  and  musical  hall  scene  there  were  countless  “family”  acts,  including  sister  acts…it  made  sense  to  me  (and  the  director)  to  have  the  sisters  be  a  sister  act  with  thematically  similar,  yet  different,  costumes.  Adriana  has  a  sun  on  her  dress,  as  the  more  outspoken,  presumably  older  (as  she  was  married  first).  Luciana  wears  a  blue  dress  with  a  crescent  moon  on  it.  

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She also has this advice for working with costumes:

1. While it is good to learn sewing and drawing skills, the most important skill for a designer to learn is script analysis. By all means, learn to sew, learn to draw…but all that script/text analysis you’re learning in English is really important, too. You can be taught the mechanical skills later (I did not take art classes in high school), but pay attention in English!

2. Pay attention to the people around you and how they wear their clothes. One key to developing your own design sense is to watch the world around you. Try to figure out why people wear the clothes and accessories you see. After all, you will almost never design a character that is exactly like you; you’re always designing for a character who may be nothing like you. 3. Everyone starts somewhere. Don’t get wrapped up in what you don’t know. A good attitude and willingness to learn will serve you better than any other advice.

Costume rendering for Dromios.

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Set Design

This is the set rendering by designer Steve McLean. The idea for the set was a derelict

Vaudeville theatre. The purpose of the rendering is to show what set will look like. This way, the

director and the people building the set know what it will look like in the end.

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Pre-Performance Questions Discuss the following questions with a group before watching the performance.

• • What are some of the challenges of producing a Shakespearean play? • Have you read or scene other plays by Shakespeare? What are your expectations for the

production? o Do you think you will be able to understand what is going on?

• What do you think the show will look like? • What do you know about this show? • Do you think the show will be funny?

Post-Show Questions Discuss the following questions in a group after watching the show.

• The production created a specific world for the play. Why do you think the director choose to add the additional character to the beginning of the play? What affect did that choice have on the play?

• What about the show was easier than you expected? • What about the show was harder than you expected? • What was your favorite part? • Why didn’t any of the characters guess about the twins? • Which character were you most sympathetic to and why? • How do you think the Vaudeville performance style influenced the show?