Review: 'Comedy of Errors' offers madcap silliness

The Arizona Repertory Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” at the University of Arizona is packed with people moving very fast and recklessly. It just seems a matter of time before there’s a head-on collision.

It is also filled with people with frenzied emotions. Understandable, that: The play is about mistaken identity, impending executions, perceived infidelity, bawdiness and buffoonery.

Ya gotta love it.

It’s a completely silly story: Two sets of twins cause all sorts of confusion. The twins are separated shortly after birth thanks to a most strange shipwreck, a mishap narrated while shadow puppetry pantomimes the tale.

Years later, they all show up in the same town. Compacting the confusion are the names: Twins in one set share the same name, Antipholus. One is from Ephesus, the other from Syracuse. The other set also share the same name, Dromio. One Dromio is a servant to Antipholus; the other is a servant to the other. Got it?

Director Brent Gibbs cut the play almost in half, to about 90 minutes with no intermission. That was wise. This is a one-joke play and while it can be gleeful to watch the antics, and lovely to hear the language, much more than 90 minutes might get, well, tiring.

Though the enthusiasm and acting on stage is likely to prevent that. Ethan Kirschbaum and Kasey Caruso as the Antipholus twins were hoots, and Zackry Colston and Keenan Larson as the Dromios each had solid slapstick sensibilities.

Jaclyn Stickel’s turn as Adriana, married to Antipholus (the one from Ephesus), is a hysterical combination of jealousy, smarts and single-mindedness.

David Weynand, who plays Aegeon, the father of the Antipholus twins, is a joy to watch on stage — he speaks Shakespeare’s language as though that is what he was born to do.

But he was the exception rather than the rule. At times, the rhythm of the language was off — Shakespeare doesn’t always flow easily from modern tongues. The funny thing is, when delivered correctly, Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter flows with gorgeous grace.

But these are student actors and they are there to learn. Luckily, they have Weynand as one of the acting teachers at the UA.