Review of the Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors is a short but humorous play about the mistaken identity between the separated twins named Antipholus and their identical servants, who are both named Dromio. It follows the cascade of events that this error causes. The Royal Shakespeare Company states that the original production of The Comedy of Errors would have been held on a thrust stage, in the open air. This allows the actors to get closer to the audience whilst still having a backdrop behind them. It would have been a simple stage production with few props, this allowed the audience to focus on the events and language that was happening in the play. This would have been important, especially with this play, to understand the events and which characters were on stage. 

However, the 1983 BBC television production of The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare has been staged quite differently to the contemporary production. The modern day interpretation allows for more complex staging, with the entire production taking place in either the centre stage or in one of the surrounding buildings. 

The staging used in this production enhances the mistaken identity narrative as the actors are able to travel between different buildings. This creates a clearer separation of the twins. With the play being televised as opposed to performed live, it allows the audience to travel with the actors, which effects the audience perspective to that of a contemporary performance. 

The Comedy of Errors is based on the play Menaechmi by Plautus, as the actors would have originally used masks to identify who the twins were and to make the actors look identical. However, Shakespeare would have used makeup instead of masks and emphasised costumes to convey the illusion of being identical. During Elizabethan England, stage makeup was much more limited than it is today, meaning that the casting decision would have been more crucial to ensure the actors playing the twins looked more alike, as mistaken identities is a necessity for the humour of the play. 

This issue is made significantly easier in BBC television production of The Comedy of Errors. This is because the use of film allows editing which enables the same actor to be duplicated on-screen, creating the illusion that they are two separate individuals. The use of technological advancements gives a greater advantage to theatre production on-screen over those performed on-stage.

This may help enhance the modern viewer experience when watching because they are able to fully believe they are watching twins and understand how people would mistake them so easily. The viewer themselves may need more time to figure out which version of the twin is on-screen, whereas on-stage it may have been slightly more obvious because they are being played by two different people. This is the advantage to the use of masks in Menaechmi as the actors would’ve appeared to be identical due to the masks worn.

The costumes in the BBC production are not modern because it is replicating an original Shakespeare play meaning the appearance of the actors are very similar. One main difference of the actors in the BBC production and an original production is that men would have also played the female roles whereas now both men and women act their own roles. 

Act V Scene I Analysis

The final scene in The Comedy of Errors unravels the issue with identity and conflict presented throughout the play. The play alludes to the question of what identity is and how is it identified if our name and appearance also belongs to someone else. It asks the question: is our identity ours or what people perceive us to be? The critic Jennifer Edwards states that “To lose one's place, therefore, might be to lose oneself.” (Edwards, 2020). Edwards is claiming that identity creates our entire being and without it we are lost. Which is why upon confrontation Dromio of Ephesus immediately claims the identity he thinks he belongs to, "Now am I Dromio and his man unbound" (The Comedy of Errors, 5.1, 63). This highlights how important identity is because it is the foundation of people's place in society and their image. This is where the conflict lies in the play, with multiple people believing themselves to have the same identity, same place in society and image. Further issues are created when Duke Solinus asks, “Which is the natural man, And which the spirit?” (The Comedy of Errors, 5.1, 64). There is no anagnorisis for the characters as there is still no realisation that they are twins, they question both their own identity and each other’s. This causes identity issues for both sets of twins as it links back to the question framed throughout the play of what identity is. Their own names and appearance also belong to others. This could be a commentary on society and how people would rather fit in than be their own individual, such as following fashion trends or believing in what others say instead of forming their own opinions. Shakespeare is critiquing society on how similar is and is emphasising the importance of everyone having their own individual identities. 

For Abbess, or Emilia, her clothing becomes her identity. She is seen as her role within society as the head of the Abbey. Her previous identity is lost so she is not recognised by her sons as their mother. In Act V Scene I, when the conflict is resolved she is reborn into her original identity, “My heavy burden ne'er delivered.” (The Comedy of Errors, 5.1, 66) and reinstate herself into the role of a mother. The importance of identity is emphasised here because Abbess was not able to fulfil the role of the mother as she wished because her identity was taken away by others as they only saw as her role in society. Motherhood would have been seen as the most important role for a woman and she was stripped from this. The resolution of the conflict however has enabled her to be free and take on her true identity. The play ends with the Dromio twins walking off together, “We came into the world like brother and brother” (The Comedy of Errors, 5.1, 67) as that is how their life began. Their identity has been resorted and the conflict has been resolved. The ending of this scene highlights the significance of identity as brothers join together in peace. It is also a resolution to what critic Richard Ashby claims, as he states that “The play stages the traumatic ramifications of a rift between personal and public perceptions of identity” (Ashby, 2017). A person’s identity is an essential part of their whole being and when the public perception of your identity is incorrect mayhem is catalysed. The brothers walking out together shows the relief when the conflict is all resolved. 

The final scene in The Comedy of Errors holds up in a modern society as still people’s place in society, such as their role in work or who their connections are, create an identity that is very important. Therefore, Shakespeare’s emphasis on the importance of identity still resonates today.  

Bibliography 

Ashby, R. (2017) Face-off: defacement, ethics and the ‘neighbour’ in The Comedy of Errors. Textual Practice, 32(8), 1255-1275.

Burtsdrama (2023) Elizabethan theatres, stages, sets and props. Available online: https://burtsdrama.com/2015/06/09/elizabethan-theatres-stages-set-and-props/ [Accessed 19/3/2023]

Edwards, J. (2020) “Mark how he trembles in his ecstasy”: space, place, and self in The Comedy of Errors. Shakespeare Studies, 48, 125. 

Royal Shakespeare Company (2023) Stage history. Available online: https://www.rsc.org.uk/the-comedy-of-errors/about-the-play/stage-history [Accessed 18/3/2023]

Shakespeare, W. (2017) The Comedy of Errors. Digireads.com Publishing

The Comedy of Errors (1983) Directed by James Cellan Jones [Film] British Broadcasting Corporation. Available online: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/RT3F5874?bcast=119688571[Accessed 18/3/2023]