As a Shakespeare play that I am completely unfamiliar with, I was eager to see what the evening at the Old Vic would hold. As the curtain was lifted a simple set was revealed; three large mirrored panels dominated the upstage area, with a set of stairs placed stage right. The play opens with a Syracusian man standing before the Duke Ephesus to plead for his life. Under the strict law of the city, the Syracusian is forbidden from entering without permission. The condemned man tells a tragic tale of losing his wife and two sets of twin boys at sea, and how he has roamed the land trying to find them. The Duke takes pity on him and promises his life if he can find a patron in the city who will pay for his freedom.

The play then begins in earnest as the audience are introduced to Antipholus of Syracuse and his faithful servant Dromio. The two men have been doing some business in the city but are due to leave that night. However, unbeknownst to the men, their identical twin brothers are inhabitants of the city and soon much hilarity ensues as all four men are mistaken for each other in various comic confusions. It all ends happily however, as the brothers all finally meet, their condemned father is set free and an abbess who has given shelter to one of the pairs is revealed to be their long-lost mother! (Shakespeare at his comic best!)

The director had decided to set the play in the 1920’s and I felt this worked extremely well. It modernised the play and made it a lot more accessible to a contemporary audience. The company had obviously worked extremely hard on bringing Shakespeare’s witty script to life and the outcome was a sparkling performance which had the audience laughing throughout. It is hard to pick out anyone in particular as the entire company was so strong, but credit must go to both Antipholus of Syracuse (Christopher Staines) and Antipholus of Ephesus (Daniel Betts) whose despair at the ever-increasing confusion was played to perfection. Acknowledgement must also go to Dromio of Syracuse (Paul Ready) whose character was a hilarious combination of Frank Spencer and Harpo Marx, and his brother Dromio of Ephesus (Mark Rice-Oxley). Phillipa Peak who played the character of Adriana also delivered a energetically comic performance, although this was sometimes a little overdone.

The set, though simple was extremely successful with many different sliding pieces to indicate a change in scene. The stage was put to brilliant use in a chase scene as the characters climb up ladders, drop through holes in the floor, run up and down steps, creating a hilarious silent movie-esque sequence!

A recurrent piano motif was used cleverly to tie scene changes together, and lighting was unobtrusive yet effective.       

 All in all it was a fantastic performance that I would recommend to everyone.

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