I am not one who jumps to conclusions, nor walks around with a chip on my shoulder, looking for something to be insulted about. But I try to be EVER Vigilant!!!
Before passing judgment on this "Mafiaized- Goombahized" (double threat) version of Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors", I will rely on reports from NIAF and OSIA, since this performance is taking place in their own backyard, in Washington, DC.
I have trepidations, when it is described as "reveling in stereotypes that populate the narrow Brooklyn caricature drawn by pop culture".
"deliberately playing to the stereotypes, making farce of them, else his urban-quaint, ethnically simplistic redux would be as shallow as the bilge we presume it is attempting to parody.... contrivances of Hollywood and TV and pulp fiction: from the Goodfellahs in the Italian restaurant to the minority street toughs in muscle shirts, delivering their Shakespearean dialog with corny accents and preposterous posturing."
Maybe you have to see it in person to appreciate
it, but pardon me if I am dubious.
I will leave it to NIAF and OSIA to render
their verdict.
========================================
FOLGER'S COMEDY OF ERRORS, A MISTAKE YOU'LL
NEVER REGRET
"Testor"
DC Military
Washington, DC
by James Darcy
Public Affairs Department
April 22, 2004
I have a confession to make.
The truth is I didn't really want to like the Folger Theatre's new production of The Comedy of Errors. But sometimes you're won over in spite of yourself, and what's a person to do when a thing like that happens? Admit defeat, and be happy for it.
See, I knew in advance that director Joe Banno had taken this early Shakespearean comedy and "interpreted" it over a modern, urban backdrop. I've ranted in previous reviews about my general distaste for productions that try to put a new, anachronistic spin on the dear old Bard; they usually come off feeling contrived, unnecessary, artistically self-indulgent.
Truth be told, all the same criticisms could well be leveled at Banno's take on Comedy of Errors. Except it winds up being so much fun, you're forced to admit that it works, and you've been charmed. Alas, "Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely, but too well."
The press release tells us that "Comedy of Errors is an indestructible comedy machine that is perfect for a block of brownstones somewhere in Brooklyn in 2004, hanging out the windows, on the front stoop, and peeking into apartments." True or not, the reinterpretation flies because Banno takes his approach completely over the top, reveling in stereotypes that populate the narrow Brooklyn caricature drawn by pop culture.
You have to believe that he is deliberately playing to the stereotypes, making farce of them, else his urban-quaint, ethnically simplistic redux would be as shallow as the bilge we presume it is attempting to parody. That said, the parody comes off very well, and all the usual suspects are there, contrivances of Hollywood and TV and pulp fiction: from the Goodfellahs in the Italian restaurant to the minority street toughs in muscle shirts, delivering their Shakespearean dialog with corny accents and preposterous posturing.
It's good, silly fun, a kind of joke at its own expense, and delivered with a surplus of style. More on that in a moment, but first a word about the story. The Comedy of Errors is your basic twins comedy, and the formula hasn't changed much in 400 years, much as one might wish to believe that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are forging bold new artistic ground. The basic device of all twin comedies is that one is mistaken for the other and wackiness ensues, culminating in a final unraveling of the mix-up, to the surprise of no one in the audience. It's a well-tested formula, and not even Shakespeare was the first to do it.
In this instance, though, we actually have two sets of twins. The first is Antipholus and his brother, um, Antipholus. Then there's Antipholus' servant Dromio, and Dromio's twin brother, er, Dromio. Wait, I can explain. OK, so here goes ... (Get comfortable, we could be here awhile).
The infant twins are separated during a shipwreck, and one Antipholus/Dromio set winds up being raised in the city of Ephesus - the Brooklyn-esque setting of the play - while the other pair grows up in Syracuse. As adults, the Syracuse twins make a trip to Ephesus, where they are mistaken for their brothers by a variety of characters, including the local Antipholus' wife, as well as by a romantically entangled stripper, a shyster exorcist and a number of rather shady acquaintances.
It can get a little confusing, not least because the same actors naturally play both Dromios (Eric Sutton) and both Antipholi (Clinton Brandhagen), varying costumes and affect to provide cues as to which character you're watching. Banno helps us out a bit by adding humorous asides to the original dialog, bits of "now let me get this straight" exposition provided a la a Greek chorus (if the Greek chorus were Italian and said things like "youse guys").
Oh, and rest assured, there will be no lack of passion during your evening out at the Folger. Syracuse Antipholus shacks up with Adriana (Marni Penning), the wife of Ephesus Antipholus, then throws himself at her sister Luciana (Erika Sheffer), declaring her "my food, my fortune, and my sweet hope's aim, my sole earth's heaven, and my heaven's claim." Meanwhile, don't feel too bad for the unintentionally cuckolded Ephesian Antipholus, who is himself making time with the stripper Courtesan (Tracy Lynn Olivera).
With such broadly drawn characters, there's not much room for the cast to do much remarkable, but there are a handful of standouts. Eric Sutton plays the two Dromios loopy and extra large, doofus cum laude. The Syracuse Dromio is a hapless tourist, with video camera and a wide-eyed gawk for the excesses of the big city. Ephesus Dromio is a basketball-toting carouser, saying things like "My mistress and her sister stay for you, dog," to make sure we all get the gag. Sounds gimmicky, and it is, but it endears.
Another little slice of style is the musician who sits at stage edge in many of the scenes providing instrumental commentary, be it The Godfather theme on mandolin or rim shots during a stretch of dialog Sutton plays as a stand-up routine (the "Tip thy wenches" ad-lib is a bit much).
It's all a little incongruous, the graffiti-tagged urban brownstone set in the old world, innyard-style theater, while in the Folger's outer gallery are displayed the 400-year-old parchments of the Trevelyon manuscript (the one titled Drunkenness is an excellent read).
And still somehow it all comes together. You don't really want to let it in, and yet it has a way of taking you by surprise. It's the screw-top wine you don't want to admit you like, the ugly necktie you secretly think is stylish. Forgive yourself and just enjoy the moment.
The Comedy of Errors is playing through May 23 at the Folger Theatre, 210 East Capitol St. S.E., a short but pleasant walk from Union Station. For show times and tickets, call 202-544-7077, or visit www.folger.edu.
Folger's
Comedy of Errors a mistake you'll never regret
http://www.dcmilitary.com/navy/tester/
9_16/features/28661-1.html