THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company dives into free fluffery

By JONATHAN DONALDSON

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In this downturn economy, laughs come cheap. Patrons of this summer's production of The Comedy of Errors on the Boston Common will be snorting and chortling like the groundlings of Shakespeare's yesteryear, or so the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company hopes. Now in its first year since ending its relationship with Citi Performing Arts Center, CSC (which began in 1996 as independent) is doing what many other organizations are forced to do: optimize. And if this production proves to be any indication, the most efficient laughs hit below the leotard.

"We knew that we wanted to do something that was lively, that was vibrant, that was celebratory, but we also thought that this one made sense for where we are right now," says founder and director Steven Maler about the group's rebuilding phase. "Some of the things about the play—the fact that there's one set, that it takes place in the span of one day and that most of the text being carried out by five actors [makes it] a good play for us to do from a strategic point of view."

Set by CSC in 1930s Miami, The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare's take on The Parent Trap concept (and also a lecherous episode of The Love Boat), where twins switch places with each other, causing all sorts of havoc. Shakespeare doubles the pleasure with two sets of twins, each switching places with his counterpart in a state of complete oblivion. The noble Antipholus of Syracuse and his lowly servant, Dromio of Syracuse, were both separated at birth from their respective twin brothers in far-away Ephesus (Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus, naturally). Upon arriving in Ephesus on a dire quest for their long-lost brothers, the Syracusians get more than they bargained for—namely, a shitstorm of wicked humor and confusion as they guilelessly find themselves mistaken for their Ephesian twins all around them (Antipholus is even "mistaken" by his own twin brother's wife).

"It's amazing how much variety he gets out of it because you would think after the first scene we would say, 'OK, we get it.' But [Shakespeare] mines so much humor out of that one basic concept," says actor Remo Airaldi of the play's one-trick "mistaken identity" gag. Airaldi plays the angry, Moe Howard-esque servant, Dromio of Ephesus, who suffers such indignities as being sent on an errand by his own master, only to report back to his master's very confused and very ornery twin (who happens to be standing in the same place, dressed quite similarly, etc.). But it's not just beatings the crowd can look forward to, says Airaldi. "We just did a scene yesterday, and it was all fart jokes for the whole page. It was like, 'I'll blow wind in your face' and 'You'll blow wind in my face.' They're all about penis jokes, and about sex and eating."

How this 400-year-old slapstick comedy is going to play out in '30s Miami remains a mystery for us groundlings. The Farrelly brothers doing Casablanca? "We start off with the assumption that Shakespeare is the genius in the room," says Maler. "You can see that this play is weaker in some of the language issues, yet in terms the exuberance of the comedy, it's already clear that he has such a gift in what may be his very first play."

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

COMMONWEALTH

SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

OPENS FRI 7.31.09 UNTIL

SUN 8.16.09

BOSTON COMMON

PARKMAN BANDSTAND

TUE-SAT 8PM

SUN 7PM

MATINEES

SUN 8.9.09, 1PM

WED 8.12.09, 12:30PM

FREE

COMMSHAKES.ORG