ASF 2015-16 Study Materials for
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Same Face, Same Name, Two Guys? It Must Be… The Comedy of Errors! by William Shakespeare
Director Greta Lambert Study Materials written by Susan Willis Set Design Robert F. Wolin ASF Dramaturg Costume Design Elizabeth Novak [email protected] Lighting Design Tom Rodman Contact ASF: 1/800/241-4273, www.asf.net ASF 2015-16/ 1
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Welcome to The Comedy of Errors Shakespeare's The Comedy of Characters in this production: Errors was long thought to be his Visitors to Ephesus: earliest comedy because its source Egeon, a merchant from was a common Latin school text. More Syracuse recently, however, critics have begun Antipholus of Syracuse, the twin to credit the sophistication of its verse, son Egeon is seeking, the the interplay of its relationships, and its one he saved [A/S] Biblical allusions, so that now it is often Dromio of Syracuse, his seen as a precursor to A Midsummer servant, a lone twin [D/S] Night's Dream. Whenever in the early to mid-1590s one dates the play, it is Residents of Ephesus: the product of a confident dramatist who Solinus, Duke of Ephesus knows how to use character, staging, Antipholus of Ephesus, raised and emotional build to maximum comic The Dromios at the door (Jeffrey de in Corinth, unaware he is a effect, not to mention jokes, physicality, and Picciotto and Chris Roe, ASF, 2009) long-lost twin [A/E] sheer, ebullient high sprits. Adriana, his wife Shakespeare creates a hybrid with The & Welcome to our our Luciana, her sister Comedy of Errors, taking a Roman street T Our love of Shakespeare runs deep Dromio of Ephesus, their farce of mistaken identity and wrapping it in at ASF, and we are happy to share it servant, the other long-lost a romance, the kind of tale the Renaissance twin [D/E] adored. The physicality of farce entails comic with schools across Alabama and our Nell, another servant beatings, outrages to dignity, lots of neighboring states, because there is just nothing like the powerful effect of seeing First Merchant banter, and a very fast pace, culminating Shakespeare live. Angelo, a goldsmith in a chase, while the romance relies on This version of Shakespeare's play A Courtesan adventures, long-lost family members, trims The Comedy of Errors to fit a one- Doctor Pinch, a conjurer mishaps, threats, and a final reunion. hour class period while keeping the great Emilia, abbess of the priory, the He gives us the best of both comic characters, the verse, and the compelling long-lost wife of Egeon worlds in a play filled with laughter and comic action. Directed by ASF's Greta An Officer lively action—a great way to see what this master of comedy can concoct! Lambert, herself a renowned Shakespeare [the text also has two more actress, the touring show features eight merchants and another female servant] actors chosen from New York auditions who join the ASF company for the 2014- 15 season. Setting: Ephesus These eight will perform all the roles in Comedy of Errors, doubling or tripling roles just as Shakespeare's own company "I see we still did meet did—some even sharing a role! They bring each other's man, you a complete theatre with set, costumes, And I was ta'en for him, props and actors in a van and a trailer. In and he for me, addition, we offer your students a series of And thereupon these workshops following the play, so they can errors are arose." work with the actors on theatre skills and Shakespeare's language. We're excited to —Comedy of Errors, 5.1 be headed your way with the Bard!
The touring company: front: Kayla Eisenberg, Lilly Wilton, Noelia Antweiler; rear: John Carter, Christopher Lemieux, Parke Fech, Andrew Dahreddine, Michael Quattrone ASF 2015-16/ 2
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Shakespeare's Farce: From Rome to Ephesus Classical Elements • Thus the misbehavior which is only • The most notable classical aspect of threatened in Shakespeare actually the comedy is its unity of time/place/ occurs in the Plautus, and the ending action—all the events take place in does not include the restoration of the Online texts one day in one place. Only this play marriage but only the reunion (and The Brothers Menaechmi at: and The Tempest have this feature. escape) of scheming brothers. http://www.perseus.tufts. Shakespeare's Source In Amphitryon: edu/hopper/text?doc= • The basis of Comedy of Errors's twin • The god Jupiter lusts after Alcmena, Perseus%3Atext%3A plot is The Brothers Menaechmus wife of a general away in battle, so 1999.02.0101%3Aact by the early Roman playwright, he and Mercury show up disguised %3D1 Plautus (c. 254-184 BCE). His play, as the general and his servant Sosia Amphitruo (Act 4, scene 2, Amphitryon, gives us the door scene. to seduce the general's wife. But the the door scene) at: • Plautus can seem harsh and bitter; general and his servant also show up http://www.perseus.tufts. Shakespeare usually softens the at the locked outer door, and the two edu/hopper/text?doc= action look-alike servants argue through it. Perseus%3Atext%3A In the Brothers Menaechmus: • Shakespeare gives us no text-based 1999.02.0092%3Aact • The twin separation and reason for infidelity; he advocates love. He even %3D4%3Ascene%3D2 the shared name is very clear adds Luciana, so A/S can have a girl, • Only the two masters are twins; there too. is only one servant. The hometown Even Terence? Menaechmus steals his wife's clothes • Another classical Roman writer of to give his mistress, the courtesan, comedy is Terence, a slave who wrote and promises to dine there with his romances. The split family and last friend, a "parasite" (a moocher; both minute reunion are his kind of comedy. are typical supporting characters in Roman comedy). For Discussion: Comparing Plautus Remains of the Roman • Instead, however, the twin who has and Shakespeare theatre at Jerash in the Near just landed in Epidamnum (where the Note: Any part of The Brothers East, showing the three doors of action is set) meets her and dines Menaechmus offers a good basis for the classical stage. All action in comparative analysis. Roman plays occurred in the there and thus starts the mayhem. Both men are greedy and conniving. • Plautus uses one set of twins; street. Shakespeare's play uses Shakespeare uses two (that is The Phoenix (A/E's home), the • In the end, the husband divorces Amphitryon's contribution)—what are Porpentine (courtesan's), and the his wife to go traveling with his twin Priory, all associated with women. brother, and the servant is freed. the implications for comedy? • Compare how each play uses the husband twins, the wives, the doctors, the Roman father vs. the Ephesian Duke, the courtesans, the cooks, the lunch guests, the endings, the tone of the action. The character sets afford rich differences in how each play is handled. • What is the attitude of Roman comedy if Plautus is typical (he was certainly famous and revered in Rome); what is the English Renaissance attitude toward comedy if Shakespeare is typical? What do the plays show us of each society and its values? ASF 2015-16/ 3
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Commedia: Another Stop on the Way to Ephesus Troupes of Italian actors toured • The style of the play was fast and Renaissance Europe and England sharing physical; the routines frequently their distinctive syle of farcical comedy involved stage combat, acrobatics, known as commedia dell'arte. This and dance. The characters postured comedy was improvised by a company and preened on stage, taunting and of professionals rather than taken from scheming to get money or the girl—or, memorized texts. Shakespeare may have preferably, both. seen such a troupe of Italian players in • Specific comic routines were called London, for he certainly understands their lazzi (pronounced laht-zee; singular, style of comedy and reflects it in his most lazzo), and many still survive, such fully farcical play, The Comedy of Errors. as the standard banana peel on the The background of a Jacques A commedia dell'arte performance floor, the pie in the face, the foot out Callot sketch, showing a involves: to trip, and the picked pocket (the commedia marketplace stage • the use of stock characters in set Renaissance's favorite was the enema COMMEDIA TYPES comic situations, often raucous, lazzo). bawdy, or physically graphic. • Another distinctive aspect of • within a planned order of events, the commedia dell'arte is that many of players would improvise on stage, the characters wore half-masks with playing to the crochets of the charac- exaggerated noses and eyebrows, ter opposite them and to the audi- fitting for characters whose traits ence. are themselves exaggerated. Each • Standard props were slapsticks and character came from a specific part of wooden swords, so comic beatings Italy, spoke with that accent, and had and duels were common features. identifiable traits and foibles modeled • the action had to be quick and on early Greek and Roman comedies. compelling to hold its marketplace Commedia troupes were often families audience and to open its wallets, centered on a talented husband/wife team, because the company passed the hat and the roles were passed down generation to generation along with comic business Larnelle Foster, William Brock, and rather than selling tickets. Johathan Gibson in ASF's 2004 and routines. MFA commedia production
Commedia's Dottore Pantalone—old, miserly, Three clever commedia servants: l to r: the ominous Brighella, (Doctor) lecherous the aesthetic Pedrolino/Pierrot, and the ever-hungry Arlecchino/ Harlequin, in his rags The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare The Romance Tradition Shakespeare is a good theatrical chef; • Shakespeare demonstrates his he knows you mix a bit of salt in the sweet. thorough knowledge of the romance He writes comedy into tragedy—Hamlet's tradition's psychology by riffing on it gravedigger—and a whiff of the tragic into here in comic terms. Every aspect comedy—the twin Sebastian's purported of the descent and ascent described drowning in Twelfth Night. below appears in the comedy. • In Comedy of Errors, however, he Both brothers experience a change in blends farce and romance. He fortunes, confusion of identity, seem works for the big reunion, but since to be in dream logic (A/S meeting it involves a reunion of twins, he Adriana; A/E locked out), feel erotic Genre: the Shape of shows the mayhem that the run-up to intensity (A/E going to the Courtesan's and what Luciana takes as A/E's the Action such a reunion can cause. Given the increasing misunderstandings, the incestuous proposition when A/S R R reunion is a relief but often surprisingly describes his attraction to her). In O O heartfelt as all the family relationships farce, everything does become an M mistaken M are reconstituted. object, and A/E devolves deeper and A identity A • The romance tradition is a literary deeper into a nightmare scenario. N FARCE N mode that changes form and focus Both brothers work to escape and get C C through the centuries. Its roots are "free," and thereby find themselves [ E E [ and reintegrate their family. in the ancient world but its peak in the Middle Ages when it gave us the chivalric tales of King Arthur Themes of Descent Themes of Ascent and Roland. Originally it was The World of The Comedy of Errors an adventure tale spanning amnesia reintegration years and countries, featuring •break in memory threatened lovers, peril, and •change in fortunes discovery of true promise along with a sense of identity confusion of identity the supernatural, with some Epidamnum remembrance romances ending happily and dream state others tragically. •real dreams growing freedom In the Middle Ages, the •dream logic Ephesus Corinth romance tradition took plot- escape Syracuse driven tales of adventure and increased erotic added a greater psychological intensity breaking of Mediterranean Sea awareness of motive on the part •animal imagery enchantment of the characters. Lovers could •hunter and hunted now more fully explore and articulate The Night World their own feelings. Influenced by the everything is an object Latin poet Ovid who depicted love as a "restless malady," the idea developed In distinguishing fictive romance into the courtly love tradition so from comedy and tragedy, Northrup Frye influential on Petrarch and subsequent observes that "the essential component courtly love poetry. of romance is adventure, and the central Source for chart: Northrup • Whereas in Romeo and Juliet theme is the hero's rescue of a princess from Frye, The Secular Shakespeare follows the path of a dragon." How much fun Shakespeare has Scripture: A Study of the romance into tragedy, his late plays, by inverting the romantic mode, for instead Structure of Romance including The Tempest, all use the of A/E rescuing Adriana, he in fact becomes (1976) happy-ending device of reunion with dragon-like in pursuing her—he wants to the added element of forgiveness. lash her and he burns Pinch. ASF 2015-16/ 4
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Character: How Shakespeare Builds The Twins Character Pair Basics • Confusion/Inversion: Why, then, do Exercises and Discussion In crafting a double set of twins, both Antipholi totally lose it this day Topics in Ephesus? Because Shakespeare •Trace the plot complications Shakespeare pairs master and by charting which Dromio man in Syracuse and Ephesus, inverts their identities. each of the twin Antipholi then lets circumstances mellow the • The stranger from Syracuse has a meets, which errands each relationships. dream day—he is invited to lunch, falls is sent on, and who each Syracusians: The Syracusan pair know in love, is given a gold chain and a reports back to (and when) they have twin brothers and want to bag of money, is measured for a new having done his task. find them. Master and servant travel suit of clothes, and greeted warmly by •Compare how the Dromios together and become companions passersby. Yet all this kindness freaks use language to defuse with a friendly, joking rapport. When him out because he has been told it tension, make peace, or is a mortal danger to be a Syracusan state their case, and how the Syracusan master raises a hand each responds to confusion to his Dromio, the servant is shocked. in Ephesus and he knows Ephesus's and demands. Dromio's twin in Ephesus, however, reputation for sorcery. The fears keep •The criss-cross effect feeds is all too accustomed to beatings him from realizing that these people the farce by multiplying the from his master and Adriana. The know someone who looks like him. mistaken identity, which marital crisis expresses itself in the • Inversely, the Ephesian citizen, well- expands beyond Dromio treatment, or mistreatment, of this liked by all, a respected businessman to include Adriana and servant, because, except for a one- and loved husband, takes friends Luciana, Angelo and other line exchange through the door in 3.1, home for lunch and finds himself town merchants, and the locked out; he becomes a stranger Courtesan. Trace the the spouses do not talk to each other growing concentric circles of until 5.4. to his own home and hometown; complication. Ephesians: Where the Syracusans are it's a nightmare. People deny him, •How does plot feed farce? compatible and genial with each other, challenge him, arrest him; they call If chase scenes and the Ephesians have no comparable him a madman when all he wanted mayhem are expected at intimacy until, perhaps, they are was lunch. He reacts badly; in fact, he the climax of a farce, does bound together by Dr. Pinch. Neither wants to retaliate for his mistreatment Shakespeare meet our of the Ephesians knows he has a by going to lunch at the Porpentine needs and expectations? twin; they think of themselves as and planning to give away the chain. Is a fast resolution the best • The Antipholi tell the truth—"I am not idea? Why? orphans since they were separated from all vestige of family shortly after your husband," "This is my house," birth. They act "you did/did not give me the chain"— as individuals of but are not believed. Everyone else different status insists the Antipholus s/he sees is the whereas the right "Antipholus." Identity is internal Syracusans act as and external, individual and social, a team. asserted and enforced in this play. The continuing contradictions that the Dromios bring—a dinner invitation rather than safely stowed gold, being locked out rather than welcomed home, news of a ship not a rope, or a rope not a ransom—escalate tension until the action becomes explosive When the action does explode in 5.1, with recriminations before the Duke and contradictions about events, both The 2004 ASF MFA commedia-influenced production with sets of twins appear and recognitions partial masks for some characters: here, the Dromios at the door (Frederick Snyder and Christian Rummel). and reunions bring a rousing finale. ASF 2015-16/ 5
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Action and Language in Comedy of Errors In the early scenes, the action of The confesses himself to be "smothered in er- Comedy of Errors sets itself several major rors" and proclaims: "Are you a god? Would objectives based on overcoming splits—a you create me new? / Transform me, then, split ship/mast or a split relationship: and to your power I'll yield." Later he tells •to reunite Egeon's long-separated her she is his beloved: "It is thyself, mine family own self's better part [soul] /My sole earth's •to reunite the twin brothers heaven, and my heaven's claim… / I am thee. / Thee will I love, and with thee lead •to reunite husband and wife my life" (3.2.39-40 and 61, 64, 66-67). •to give young love a chance to bloom. Twins and Spouses In a play built on doubles, we have two He describes a love that Adriana also Poem for Discussion sets of twins and at least two marriages. describes having had and now misses with In considering the 2=1=2 Marriage is a cognate to twinness here and her husband, A/E (although she mistakenly 12th night 19.tif 12th night 32.tif marital and twin relationships, an equally important concern. Each twin says these words to A/S): look at the second half of John seeks his other half just as Adriana and the …O, how comes it, Donne's metaphysical poem Abbess each defines herself as part of a That thou art then estrangèd from thy self? "A Valediction: Forbidding "union" or "bond" with a missing piece. Thy self I call it, being strange to me, Mourning," which also uses this That undividable, incorporate, mathematics in philosophical Self and Loss of Self for the Am better than thy dear self's better part. context to discuss marriage. Syracusians Based on the mistaken identity gambit (2.2.110-114) at its core, the play builds self-awareness in Not only do these lovers describe the its characters. First Antipholus of Syracuse, love bond with identical phrasing, but they on entry, is told to "give out use the same imagery for their agony of you are of Epidamnum" lest he separation. Adriana continues, echoing be arrested. He must hide his Antipholus of Syracuse two scenes earlier: identity. We realize, however, For know, my love, as easy mayst thou fall that his true identity is already A drop of water in the breaking gulf, hidden—Antipholus is not even And take unmingled thence that drop again Without addition or diminishing, his given name; it is the name As take from me thyself, and not me too. of his twin brother, the name he (2.2.116-120) has adopted in his twin's honor. Thus the metaphysical and spiritual We never learn his "real" name image of twinning and wedding—that two or his servant's. are one and yet two—fills the play and Just before Dromio of challenges us to examine relationship and Ephesus enters and starts the identity more closely. Love, we learn, is to chaos in 1.2, Antipholus of lose and gain oneself; it transforms. Syracuse observes to himself: Adriana confronts her "husband" In 2.2, Antipholus of Syracuse deflates I to the world am like a drop of water (A/S): Chris Mixon, Anne James, Adriana with one line: "Plead you to me, fair Carl Cofield, Grace Hsu (ASF, That in the ocean seeks another dame? I know you not," a true laugh line. 2000) drop, Who, falling there to find his fellow forth, He doesn't recognize her. He asks himself, Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself. What, was I married to her in my dream? So I, to find a mother and a brother, Or sleep I now and think I hear all this? In quest of them unhappy, lose myself. What error drives our eyes and ears (1.2.35-40) amiss? Ballyhoo 99.tif Comedy 24.tif To lose oneself can mean in activity, but Until I know this sure uncertainty, also a more existential loss of self; his quest I'll entertain the offered fallacy. to find his brother has also become a quest (2.2.173-177) and he steps into the world of paradox. Only to find himself. He know he is not Adriana's Alice in Through the Looking Glass could husband, but as he talks with Luciana, he comprehend his state of mind. ASF 2015-16/ 6
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Action and Language of Comedy of Errors: II Things to Watch Self and Loss of Self for the Dromio has the reverse identity crisis: • the money and the gold Ephesians "Do you know me, sir? Am I Dromio? • what is opened (purses, While his unknown Syracusan twin Am I your man? Am I myself? … I am chests, invitations by believes he is dreaming, the Ephesian an ass, I am a woman's man, and women) and what is Antipholus walks into a nightmare in besides myself." He finds himself closed (doors, debts, and apparently hearts) 3.1. He is locked out of his own home claimed by a woman he does not • how the at-home versus and his authority denied by the porter, know or want, which echoes his stranger motif plays out: by Nell, and by his own wife. master's experience in 2.2. Antipholus the Syracusans, the real Rejected by his wife and thus by has now found his "proper" love; strangers, are welcomed to implication not her "husband," he perhaps Dromio will also, if Luce and the town and home, while boldly decides to lunch with the Nell are two separate characters those who dwell there are Courtesan, feeding into his wife's rather than one (a dispute). treated as strangers and great fear of his infidelity which has, Likewise, Antipholus of Ephesus, the denied he says, heretofore been "without solid businessman, is twisted from • the business deals and idea of business reputation desert." He acts unlike himself himself when arrested for debt in • how the home world and because he is not "recognized" at the street. Ever the mirror image, his marriage seem topsy-turvy home. In the same way, Adriana's twin gets all the gold—both chain due to Antipholus's absence suspicions have her acting shrewishly, and bail money—just as he got the and behavior unlike herself, because she, too, feels home-cooked meal. By the time the • the nature imagery, such unrecognized, unappreciated at home. Ephesian confronts his wife in 4,4, as sea, tree and vine. For Dromio, too, feels attacked when the he is truly angry, but his "incivility" instance, how apt is Egeon's porter identifies himself as "Dromio": just convinces her that he is crazy, image of the sundering "O villain! Thou hast stolen both mine and the more he protests the truth storm for the events through the middle of the play? Does office and my name." He has no idea as he knows it, the crazier, the less the presence of both twins how true his statement really is. "himself," everyone thinks him. in Ephesus divide them from Losing Oneself in Relationship Finding Oneself through Others their lives as the rock split Luciana counsels the man she thinks is The emphasis in the play is on family the mast? her brother-in-law to assume a false and marital relationships, so the crisis appearance, to lie about his presumed of denial in the Ephesians' household infidelity to preserve her is one side of the issue. The other sister's peace of mind, but side is Egeon's family, which is when the Syracusan turns the teased with the Antipholi mistaking tables and truthfully tells her the Dromios, but they are not blood he loves her, she believes it kin to the Antipholi. Thus the kinship is her brother-in-law speaking crisis arises when Egeon truly sees and, trapped in true and false his son Antipholus (A/E), but his son appearance, flees. denies him, an action that is not funny Where Antipholus of Syracuse but heartrending—and also where the tries to woo the girl in 3.2, play emerges from farce into romance again. The denial is another missed opportunity, but it puts the focus back on the parents. With the Abbess revealing the other set of twins, that crisis dissolves, and when she reveals herself as Emilia, the play's initial Antipholus of Ephesus and crisis resolves into a restored family Dromio of Syracuse at cross purposes about errands (Ray and a host of paid or forgiven debts. Chambers and Dan Cordle, ASF 1992)
A/E in 2000 ASF 2015-16/ 7
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Exploring Imagery in the Play The pattern of doubling and mirroring HOME in The Comedy of Errors is very like that • The Syracusians on entering Ephesus used in folk and fairy tales—such as the are told they are in a place of peril. The Male Quest in Fairy Tale "good" (often dead) mother and the too That potential peril will test their nature • The male protagonist is often the often "wicked" stepmother through whose and challenge them, especially with youngest brother, sometimes challenges the young protagonist is forced meeting women, since they are single. called "Dummling." He is to mature (the step-relation protects the • Although A/E is at home in Ephesus, overlooked or scorned, but actual mother's tough love). Or the "home" his home is the focus of his challenge. when his older brothers fail one is forced from and the gingerbread Adriana chafes because business the story's tests, he proves "home" one devours—both the same home, seems to trump his home life. Now to have the right qualities to since the challenge is self-control rather she seeks him in the street—but finds succeed. • Male-centered tales usually than selfishness. Fairy tales and the play A/S. In taking in A/S she will deny involve adventure and travel, share this mirror effect. the very man she seeks; she doesn't conquest and daring. The goals of fairy tales are maturation "recognize" A/E or heed his needs. • The quest often involves getting and independence, ruling one's own life as • Her husband returns to find his door something tangible, such as an responsible adult (the royalty image) locked—he is without a home, a magic harp, or crossing a and learning what is important and valuable "homeless." So what is the value of barrier (thorns, air/beanstalk). in life and what its dangers are—like that that home to him? At first, angry and • The male quest also can predatory, hungry "wolf" that may devour hurt, he rejects it and pursues an include finding and winning alternate "home" and an alternate the maiden, who may be you if you're not careful. The elements of sleeping or in a glass case. the tale, such as the gold one seeks or "woman"—the challenge of infidelity in • The male may also through his acquires by adventurous courage, is not marriage, the "wolf" factor. But when selfish or passionate actions so much monetary as spiritual or having in peril—in debt, needing gold—he turn into a beast and need help "the right stuff"—confidence, good sense, sends home to his wife for ransom. reversing the transformation. self-reliance, friends, even good luck, and • The door signals being in or out of knowing the value of home, the "place" you home and its relationships. Being live and belong in your life, where many of "locked out" of home is a challenge to the tales end—whatever one's age. grow in fairy tales and in this play a challenge to affirm or deny what home DOUBLING and MIRRORING The Antipholus twins are mirror images. and marriage mean. One knows his father and home in GOLD Syracuse, but has become • Something precious figures in many "homeless" in quest to find tales as gold or gold coins. Both his missing twin brother, Antipholi have gold safely stored. his "double," who does • When A/S asks about his gold, D/E tells not know his actual home, him of a home and wife—something parents, or that he is a precious he does not yet have, twin. but who was raised maturational steps he has foregone in in Corinth and brought his quest. The story lets him explore to Ephesus, where he that life and even discover the right girl has found success and for him. Life comes looking for him, as made his own home with it often does in fairy tales. his wife (though he, too, • When A/E is arrested for debt, he will become "homeless" finds that he needs gold just when he today). Likewise his has been "un-homed" and straying. servant has no known Yet he immediately sends not to the "Home" proves difficult for family roots except his service to A/E. Courtesan but to his wife for his "gold" D/S (Liisa Ivary, Dan Cordle, at home—he knows what is precious Suzanne Irving, ASF 1992) Then the play reverses or mirror- images them. and where it resides (even if it gets delivered to his brother). ASF 2015-16/ 8
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Exploring Imagery in the Play/ 2 The Female Quest in Fairy DINNER ESCAPE Tale • Food sustains, and "feeding" the self is • A/S may get free food and find a new • The adventures and travel of often contrasted with sustaining the love in Luciana, but overall he decides the female protagonist take group: self vs. others, devouring vs. a different course from the he wants out of Ephesus. Feeling male's. She often goes from sharing or nourishing all. beset, he and D/S will pull rapiers and house to house, as Snow • A/S is invited to dinner by a stranger, flee into the Priory. Suddenly events White flees from castle to his putative "wife." Wary as he is, seems stronger than A/S is, and when dwarves' house, where he nonetheless goes with Adriana, it is fight-or-flight, his first reaction is she cooks and cleans for exploring the unknown and meeting to flee. Only with the Abbess's support them, gaining new skills. Luciana (is that love or "wolf"?), but does he emerge to face his future. If travel is involved, a wolf flees the Courtesan (reversing A/E). • A/E wants out and he wants in. He or other beast may make • For his part, A/E wants to share the toys with escape but reaffirms his an appearance and pose bounty of his home, but finds himself a sexual threat as she marriage. When tied up ("chained") matures/"travels". locked out, exactly as Adriana feels and taken home to be "cured" by Dr. • Like the male, the female may figuratively "locked out" of his life and Pinch, he again fights and escapes to be outcast, a stepchild, and/ love. Handling a marital denial calls avenge his perceived mistreatment. or overlooked. for assessment and problem solving, Like his brother, he is soon brought • Other women figure in these neither of which A/E accomplishes. face to face with the dilemma; he tales, either as a maternal THE CHAIN faces Adriana and the Courtesan and figure (a fairy godmother • A/E plans to give the chain to his wife, recognizes his true wife, his true life who teaches or gives gifts) but when locked out decides to give despite his "wolf" impulses. or as spiteful or jealous it to the Courtesan. Since the chain female rivals, who take the SELF-DISCOVERY role brothers have in the is gold, it also suggests something • The Dromios, the perpetual motion male quest by venturing and precious, something more than just machines of the comedy, do not get failing due to character flaws jewelry. It is a holdfast, a chain in the to make many independent choices sense of a bond, a pledge. in the play since they are repeatedly For Discussion Adriana fears his straying, and in given new orders and do their best to • Are the Antipholi (or Dromios) seeking to hold him (chain him?) fulfill them but are often beaten and identical or mirror images? actually locks him out. So he contradicted for their pains. • Do the Antipholi end up with the right women? The fiery impulsively explore that alternate The Nell issue differentiates them, for A/E with fiery Adriana and lifestyle. In the end, however, he gives as with their masters, D/E has an more easy-going A/S with the chain to his wife and returns the established relationship and D/S does the more "obedient" or more Courtesan's ring. He reaffirms the not want that one; he likes Luce (a "game"-savvy Luciana? union he wants, the one he turned to parallel to Luciana?). • Although we Whether D/E's beatings will diminish we know their can only hope as peace returns to the relationships home, since stress, as we have seen, less well, does has caused angry reactions both the same seem true of the spouses. Dromios? • At the end of the play, in fairy tale/ • What will happen psychological terms each Antipholus to the Antipholi has faced his challenges and found, ,who suddenly intentionally or unintentionally, a find themselves better and more stable self by living with parents? the experience of the other for a day. A/E and D/E They gain brotherhood and spouses tied by Dr. Pinch as well as parents. They are all finally while Adriana gets together, in control, and "at home"— details from officer happily married? (ASF, 2000) ASF 2015-16/ 9
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare How The Play Uses Rhyme—Text Analysis Facts about Playwright • Dromio of Ephesus re-introduces the • Shakespeare uses blank verse as rhyme in protest just as Adriana used Rhyme and Blank Verse in a supple, evocative, and eloquent it. Adriana's tirade tries to discern what Comedy of Errors medium of expression. the problem is. Rhyme abounds in • She returns to couplets in 2.2 as she Comedy, and its role deserves • His main plot scenes are filled with verse, but the subplot or comic scenes beseeches her "husband" (really A/S) consideration. A quick overview to come home to dinner. reveals: are often in prose, for Shakespeare is • She ends her 37-line speech to him 1.1—all blank verse, with 2 also a gifted writer of prose. with a couplet; his 5-line denial also couplets by Egeon • He uses couplets for closure at the end 1.2— all blank verse of scenes. ends in a couplet. 2.1—opens in blank verse; Rhyme in Comedy of Errors • Then just when it seems she might quickly shifts to • Comedy of Errors uses a great deal launch into scolding (lines 159- couplets, a bit of prose on of rhyme within some scenes—see 161), she begins to rhyme instead. D/E's entry, then to blank the breakdown to the left. Why rhyme The effect is almost as if she is verse and couplets here—couplets, quatrains, even channeling Luciana, for she seems 2.2—blank verse and prose; perhaps a sexain? self-deprecating and cajoling, the vine Adriana's blank verse shifts to his elm. to , and so the Analysis of the Use of Rhyme in 2.1 & couplets • Antipholus of Syracuse is mystified scene continues with only a 2.2 brief section of blank verse • And who uses all this rhyme? In 2.1 but picks up her couplet form in his near the end it is Adriana and Luciana; in 2.2 it aside. He denies her in blank verse, 3.1—blank verse gives way begins with Adriana, then spreads to but agrees to follow her in couplets. to long-line couplets all; in 3.1, the Dromios; in 3.2, Luciana Rhyme has a genuine potency here (hexameters and even and A/S. The women in private, the (as does the lure of a free meal). fourteeners), then love concerns, and the door scene get Rhyme in 3.2 returns to blank verse rhyme. • The quatrains of 3.2 are equally 3.2—opens with 13 quatrains, interesting. shifts to , and then • The rhyme works rhetorically, as we couplets • Quatrains are the bulk of every to prose on D/S's entry; can see in 2.1 between Adriana and then to blank verse and her sister. Shakespeare sonnet, so to find some rhyme for the resolve • We meet them for the first time waiting thirteen of them opening this scene is to leave and meeting with to have dinner because A/E is late. notable, half teaching A/E stealth and Angelo Adriana is upset; her sister tries to lying if his love has strayed (Luciana 4.1—blank verse calm her. In the 11th line, Luciana ostensibly giving advice to her brother- 4.2—potential (or sexain begins to rhyme her sister with the in-law), half pledging a new but eternal quatrain plus couplet), and life-altering love to her (A/S then couplets, another social facts of gender roles in the play—the husband/male may do as he talking to the young woman whose quatrain, then name he does not even know). couplets intermixed with likes: some blank verse Adr: Why should their liberty than ours be • Only when she protests his seemingly 4.3—blank verse, prose, blank more? incestuous proposal do they shift to verse Luc: Because their business still lies out o' stichomythia and couplets, with him 4.4—blank verse, prose, blank door. rhyming her protests with more love verse, prose • Luciana's speech about male mastery claims. 5.1—blank verse, a triplet and female subservience sits ill with Rhyme in 4.2 Now we know where to Adriana, who protests at length, her • The aftermath of this scene, 4.2, pursue our analysis. five-couplet speech exactly matching between the sisters, completes the the length of her sister's speech. play's exploration of rhyme. Explore Because Luciana begins the rhyme, how. we may start to associate the effect with reasonableness or submission (rhyme=order) until Adriana throws the form back in her face in protest. ASF 2015-16/ 10
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Vocabulary for Comedy of Errors (touring script) Because The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare's shortest script, less had to be cut for the touring script. The play's language is remarkably accessible and familiar, as you will discover in performance. There are a few words, however, some particular to the Renaissance and some Renaissance Usage general vocabulary, that your students may Details not yet have encountered, so we provide • Thee and thou are used a brief glossary here. in place of you in two opposing ways: 1) as a Comedy of Errors Glossary for the touring script—with usage examples sign of intimacy to family and other loved ones, or marks, ducats = gold coins used as money 2) to belittle and scorn The Centaur, the Phoenix, the Tiger, the Porpentine = buildings around the someone as lower in city square. status than oneself Centaur = a mythical creature with body of a horse and upper torso and • Mine is sometimes used head of a man; in the play, the name of an inn instead of my before a Phoenix = the mythical bird (known to Harry Potter fans) that consumes word beginning with a itself in fire and is reborn from the flames. The Phoenix is A/E's vowel, i.e "mine eyes" home. Consider the aptness of its name as an image for the marriage. (we still do this with the Porcupine = consider the aptness of this name for a courtesan's house articles a and an) hapless = without luck [hap = luck] sconce and pate = head ["that merry sconce of yours"; "lest I break your pate"] hie = hasten ["hie thee home to dinner"] flout = to mock or scorn ["wilt thou flout me thus?"] cozenage = deception, trickery ["this town is full of cozenage"] lours = frowns ["how impatience lours in your face"] shrewish = loud and brash (after the small rodent that fights by shrieking) owe = own ["the house I owe"] office = job, duty ["thou hast stolen both mine office and my name"] troth = pledge, truth ["by my troth"] dote = to love excessively ["and I will dote"] mated = in this context means amazed (with pun on mated/marriage) privy = private ["the privy marks" about his body] chargeful fashion = workmanship avaunt = go away ["Avaunt, thou witch"] minion [said to Adriana in anger] = hussy suborned = convinced ["thou hast suborned the goldsmith to arrest me"] impeach = accusation ["what an intricate impeach is this"]
Adriana trying to cure her husband with Pinch's help in ASF's MFA modern dress/commedia production (2004): front, Suzanne Curtis, Julia Watts, Jennifer Hunt; rear, Jonathan Gibson, Larnelle Foster ASF 2015-16/ 11
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Some Amazing Truths about Separated Twins To most people, including most critics, The Giggle Twins the events of Comedy of Errors seem utterly Separated at birth and brought up in improbable—long separated twins with distant English cities, these two women the same name finding each other and were reunited after forty-one years: being uncannily alike in appearance, • both wore a beige dress and brown even in clothing. In this case, truth is velvet jacket to the reunion meeting at stranger than fiction, for there are many King's Cross railway station factual accounts of long-separated • both tinted their hair the same shade of twins reuniting later in life and not auburn only finding themselves alike but even • both met their future husbands at town wearing the same clothes to the hall dances when they were sixteen M. C. Escher in "Bond meeting. It really does happen. and married in their early twenties in of Union" expresses the In his revealing book, Twins, Peter big autumn weddings interconnectedness of a pair, be Watson details the findings of the • both worked for local government as it spouses or twins. Minnesota Twin Study and many more did their husbands when they met accounts of twins reunited after long them The Lone Twin separations and the amazing similarities • both suffered miscarriages with their Another phenomenon of twins they discover. Consider two examples: first babies is the lone twin, where one The Jim Twins • both hated math and games in school twin has lost the other, the • both drank their coffee black and cold feeling Antipholus of The most famous of the reunited twins Syracuse has at the start of are "the Jim twins," Jim Lewis and Jim (no sugar), which is very unusual in the play. Springer, who met on February 9, 1979, England • Even when one twin dies in thirty-nine years after they were separated • both laugh more than anyone they the womb, the remaining at birth. Here are the facts: know twin can have a long and • both were adopted by families in Ohio, • both are careful about money profound sense of loss, 45 miles apart • both prefer the color blue feeling as if s/he must • both had fallen down stairs when live for two, and it is not • both were named James by their adoptive parents fifteen, an accident that left them with unknown to want to take the weak ankles twin's name. • both had been married twice, first to • both love chocolate and liqueurs • The Lone Twin: A Study in women named Linda and then to Bereavement and Loss by women named Betty • both hate heights Joan Woodward has many • both had sons named James Allan • both lack a sense of direction personal accounts of lone • both had owned dogs named Toy twins aware of and missing • both had high blood pressure their "other halves." Go Ahead, Google It! • The lone twin phenomenon • both suffered from migraines Confident that it doesn't happen in our occurs whether the person • both chain-smoked the same brand of world? Look at: knows s/he is a twin or not. cigarette www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ • Such is the case of • both had woodworking shops in their 1567542/Identical-twins-reunited-after- Antipholus of Ephesus. He garages and both drove Chevys 35-years.html is off-kilter for some reason • both vacationed on the same beach on OR SEE the New York TImes Magazine cover in the play, not himself, the Gulf Coast of Florida story for July 12, 2015, about two sets of seemingly dissatisfied with • both had served as deputy sheriffs separated twins raised as brothers at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/ his wife, but all his inner • their scores on psychological tests for confusion may be solved magazine/the-mixed-up-brothers-of- when he realizes he has a personality variables "approximated bogota.html?_r=0 twin. What he is missing is one person taking the test twice" not marital or economic; it is • although living in different towns, they sibling and family. died on the same day of the same disease ASF 2015-16/ 12
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare The Background of the Action: Life in the 1930s and 1940s
The characters' lives have been shaped 1934-1938: Great Depression eases by Prohibition, the Great Depression— • Lower unemployment, fewer bank fail- during which Avery and Dixie were children ures and the other adults were trying to begin • Drought- their adult lives—and by World War II. striken Selective Time Lime: Background for Midwestern Play farmers 1919-1929: The Roaring Twenties move west • Life expectancy is 54 years; • Germany South Dakota, 1936 divorce rate 13%. annexes Austria • Radio gains popularity. • Jesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at • Car sales boom; 50% of cars sold Berlin Olympics are Fords. • New: laundromats, Golden Gate Bridge, • Work day cut from 12 to 8 hours. miniature golf, last public hanging • New: Miss America pageant, 1939: War and rising economy John Held's cartoon of a flapper • World War II begins in Europe doing the Charleston—quintessence Wheaties, Time magazine, traffic of the Roaring '20s lights, airmail, Baby Ruth candy, • U.S. economy surges due to war radio commercials, Yankee stadium, • Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz electric shavers, films with sound, • New: helicopter, goldfish swallowing fad Academy Awards, solo transatlantic 1941-1945: World War II for America flight, Mickey Mouse, the charleston • First peacetime draft in 1940 1929: Stock Market crash in October • War declared Dec. 8, 1941 after leads to severe economic downturn Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor 1930-1933: Depth of Great Depres- • After early defeats in Pacific, U.S, sion forces begin to win and along with • Many banks close; 56% allies gain ground in Europe. D-Day; of blacks and 40% of whites are invasion at Cartoon of an big city speakeasy unemployed. Wages drop to 60% Normandy, during Prohibition— of 1929 June 6, 1944. alcohol readily available wages. Germans • FDR's introduce V-1 "New & V-2 rocket Deal" bombs; creates Japanese D-Day, Normandy, 1944 jobs and begin kamikaze attacks. Napalm- changes A bread line national monetary system bombing of Tokyo. War • 5-day, 40-hour work week common in Europe ends May 8, The 1929 • FBI created due to rising gangster 1945. After dropping Stock Market activity (a result of Prohibition) two atomic bombs on Crash— • Dust Bowl in Midwest begins Japan, war with Japan chart of • Hitler elected chancellor in Germany ends August 15, 1945. the value • Prohibition repealed • Rationing of rubber, of one share of • Cigarette smoking rises sugar, gasoline, shoes, canned goods, GE stock • New: Empire State Building, "Star meat, cheese, and fat in U.S. during from 1920- Spangled Banner" named national war 1930 anthem • Nuremburg war trials begin • Polio epidemic • New: M&Ms, the lindy hop dance ASF 2015-16/ 13
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Production Design for ASF's Comedy of Errors If comedy is often bright, anything (potential fodder for mayhem). Likewise, involving farce is thereby brighter, and so given the need to see both sides of the it is with ASF's touring production of The Phoenix door, that door will be hinged to Comedy of Errors. The design choices swing 90º onto stage so we can enjoy both were inspired by the play's genre and Dromios conversing through it. by director Greta Lambert's love of the Costume designer Elizabeth Novak swing music she heard while working embraced the swing era and designed on the script, music that seemed to costumes in the style of the 1930s and express the mood. So the designers '40s, with a few film references, especially "swung" into the practicalities of a set for Adriana and Luciana—as in Adriana's that must be assembled and struck "Dorothy-Lamour-flowered" dress. The [taken down] for every performance Antipholi will be resplendent in bright blue and that must fit in the back of a trailer. suits and hats, and the Dromios speeding Likewise, costuming must be efficient about in bluejeans and wearing jackets with and, given the doubling in the piece, a Harlequin-type diamond pattern. Quick sometimes very quick. changes, some of which will be on stage, Set designer Rob Wolin, knowing may include just a coat and a hat—and how important the street front is, audience imagination, a vital theatrical designed a riff on the Roman street set ingredient. in abstract colors, so the playing space With a nod to the commedia element, can be outside or inside depending on Novak uses consciously chose patterned the scene.And since much is made in fabrics with squares, polka dots, or the script of Ephesus being a seaport, diamonds and bright colors throughout that element will be highlighted with the show's palate. While not using masks, anchor motifs and baskets of fish the production is using glasses for characterization. Left: Elizabeth Novak's costume sketches for the Antipholi, the Dromios, Adriana, and Luciana
Set designer Rob Wolin's elevation for the Comedy of Errors' port city of Ephesus; notice the number of doors, essential to farce ASF 2015-16/ 14
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Activities for Working with Comedy of Errors
Twins: Considering Production Challenges • Finding two sets of identical twin • Some productions have solved the actors to perform the play poses problem by having one actor play a real challenge (though it was both Antipholi and another actor done early in the 20th century), but both Dromios and then using a body since theatre thrives on illusion, do double for them as the re-entering we need actual twins? How much Syracusians in the last scene. Is that identical appearance is enough for the a better or simply a different kind of audience to buy the twinness? choice? How important is that reunion Costumes can effect much of the moment? For the full emotional hit, do similarity, and costumes are also the we need to see all four faces? key to differentiating the Syracusians and the Ephesians—a different color • The door scene is also a challenge for handkerchief or tie or socks will do it. the production because the audience Similar heights and body types also wants to see both Dromios, thus to seem key. Will red noses on similarly see both inside and outside that door sized and garbed Dromios work? Will simultaneously. similar moustaches or gestures work With a Roman-based staging (see for dressed-alike Antipholi? How much p. 2) that would be difficult. Some latitude is there in theatre—how playful productions build a 90º door or have can an audience be with being asked hinge the door frame or the wall so it to see likeness? can swing out 90º for that scene (see —Look at the pictures in the study the pictures in the study materials). materials—how are the twins One production even had the actors portrayed and differentiated? How holding the door in the air, unattached important is it to be able to distinguish to the house. Do we really demand the Dromios (who often run into realism in that scene? What is scenes without introduction, so we important for the comic moment? just have to recognize which Dromio it is for the comedy to work)? "Twin" a Character —Look around your class and see who • Pick one of the six major characters— could "twin" with another for the an Antipholus, a Dromio, Adriana play—how many possible sets of or Luciana—and live his or her life "Dromios" can you during this day, posting your views find? how many and responses to events for a possible sets of Shakespeare Facebook and/or Twitter. "Antipholi"? The Dromios can have their own "Facelessbook" or "Servants' Twitter" that their masters cannot access. [Of course you can't "friend" or "follow" your twin!]
Top: The Antipholi meet in 5.1 in ASF's 2009 production (Michael Daniel Anderson and Blake Kubena); middle: the Dromios meet in ASF's 2004 MFA production (Frederick Snyder and Christian Rummel), and bottom: a p.r. photo of the two sets of twins for ASF's 1992 Comedy of Errors (Ray Chambers, Steven David Martin, Dan Cordle, John Preston)
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The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Activities for Working with Comedy of Errors/ 2
The Commedia Element how comedy involves action we • How do you feel about beating servants might assess differently in another (or anyone)? Is it justifiable? Beatings context. Find examples of comic were a common part of Renaissance "transgression" from current television life, and not just for servants. shows and films and consider the role (Look up of their humor. the "rule of Genre Issues thumb" to see • In farce, no one gets hurt; there are how harshly no ill results to the lazzi. If that is so, husbands/ is Shakespeare's play a pure farce? fathers could Are there no consequences to any of legally treat their the actions or behavior? any potential "property," i.e. consequences along the way? their families.) The play does • One subset of farce that developed in not intend to the 19th century was French bedroom engage in a farce, where a husband or wife is moral debate tempted to stray and s/he may even about physical get to the bedroom but never into John Woodson as the Duke violence; it's comedy, so it uses lazzi, the bed because of interruptions and staring at two sets of twins what we might call cartoon violence. complications, often including the (ASF, 2000) There are no physical consequences, arrival of the spouse! no damage.We never see Dromio Does the Courtesan's role in this play with a black eye. What is the effect have a bedroom farce effect for us? of "comic beatings" on stage? Do we Should we consider her a sexual The Love Plot's Role? laugh? temptation or just a friendly neighbor? • A/S and Luciana's love plot Does laughter walk the line—or even seems to take a small go over the line— part in the action. Once between what is that happens the action appropriate and pivots toward A/E. Is it inappropriate? necessary for the farce? Is comedy an insulation to propriety? Assess the comic beatings in the play and their role in the comedy and also consider
Egeon (Wilson Cain) and Emelia (Sonya Lanzener) meet their long- lost sons and servants in ASF's 2000 production ASF 2015-16/ 16
The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare Genre Worksheet for Comedy of Errors The Structure of Comedy Farce Elements Comedy Farce relies on: From Structure to Values and • divides a group and then reunites it • fast-paced physical comedy Theme In Shakespeare (as in literature • excludes anyone who cannot join the • character stereotypes in general), the structure final festivity (two-dimensional rather than three- of the plotlines/action and • engages the audience using sympathy dimensional figures) relationships reveals the and ridicule • humans' primal urges—greed, lust, thematic concerns of the • gains something of value gluttony. Main plot characters want play. money or the sweet young thing; 1. Identify the individuals, groups, and servants want food or power. • What is the action and/or relationships divided in The Comedy interest of each plotline? of Errors. How many get reunited? • Which parts of the production involved What do they share? How? the fastest action? Why? What was its effect?
• If an arranged marriage is a 2. Is anyone excluded at the end? If so, business deal rather than a why? How does inclusion work? love match, how does that aspect of marriage (the A/E- Adriana match) compare • Identify the lazzi in the play, the comic to the other relationships in business (gags, setups for jokes or the play? How many current 3. Which characters do we sympathize action), such as the comic beatings. relationship statuses are with? Why? How much of the production is based voluntary? on lazzi? Is that appropriate to this play?
4. Which characters do we ridicule? Why? Are there varieties of ridicule?
• How does love or concern for self factor into romantic love or a sense of reputation? 5.. What is considered valuable in the various plot lines and how does that reveal the characters' values and purpose? • Were all the characters "types" or did they become more three-dimensional? • How does the social setting Effect? work with or affect the 6. Is the play a farce or does each plot individual crises of the play? line have a romantic core (issues of wooing and wedding)? The COMEDY of ERRORS by William Shakespeare 2015-2016 SchoolFest Sponsors
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