Name: The Comedy of Errors - Globe
Start: 2023-05-12
End: 2023-07-29
Location: Globe Theatre

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Genre: Play

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The Comedy of Errors - Globe - LON 

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The Comedy of Errors - Globe

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For a play with the word “comedy” in its title, [*The Comedy of Errors*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/27565-the-comedy-of-errors-globe) can often feel pretty bleak. That point isn’t lost on Sean Holmes, director of [Shakespeare's Globe’s](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/shakespeares-globe-theatre) smart and savvy new production of the play that spawned the first-ever Shakespeare-themed musical: Rodgers and Hart’s 1938 *The Boys from Syracuse*. 

To be sure, the production is genuinely funny: you leave grinning at a conclusion rife with “wonder,” to co-opt a crucial word that resonates through other reunion-driven narratives from the Bard as well (*The Winter’s Tale*, for one). But the production pays equal time to the plight of the seemingly doomed Egeon, a Syracusan who has strayed into the enemy territory of Ephesus and is “hopeless and helpless” and risks becoming even “lifeless” as a result. 

It’s giving little away to report that things turn out rather better than anticipated for Egeon and others by the time we arrive at a conclusion alive to coincidence and to a commingling of severed families that lifts the heart. 

But Holmes’s achievement here is to chart the emotional byways of a text whose characters seem forever to be beating one another up – when, that is, they’re not seeking to be made whole. Antipholus of Syracuse compares himself movingly early on to “a drop of water… that seeks another drop”: this onetime twin, parted in a shipwreck from his lookalike other half, would like nothing more than to find that errant person who will help reconstitute his troubled sense of self.

The above may sound like heavier going than you may expect from so famously larky and knockabout a play, and this early entry in the canon is, I think, often sold thematically short. All credit, therefore, to Holmes, associate artistic director at the Globe, who takes *Comedy* seriously, which means monitoring its shifts in mood. (A threat is raised at one point of eye-gouging, which anticipates no play so much as *King Lear*.) 

These mean Ephesian streets are quick to violence: a decapitated head rolls into view, and we seem to have stumbled into a banner-waving brawl that looks decidedly ugly. You share Egeon’s unease at his uncertain fate, and it isn’t until we are properly acquainted with the two sets of twins – the masters jointly named Antipholus and their servants, both of whom are called Dromio – that we embark upon the defining whirligig of mistaken identity.
Even then, the play, presented straight through at nearly two hours, confronts its mounting absurdities head-on. Philip Cumbus’s Duke may have a gift for the throwaway, putting a spin on language that wouldn’t innately seem funny, but Laura Hanna’s Adriana, wife to Antipholus of Ephesus, is immediately plaintive and engaging: worrying one minute whether she might in fact be “dull” even as she succumbs to fury at the escapades of her adulterous husband. Or is he?

Disorientation rules: Dromio of Ephesus climbs a rope ladder wondering all the while who he is, and reality itself is soon up for grabs. By the time the great Claire Benedict arrives cloaked in authority as the Abbess, you pine for clarity to assert itself amidst the escalating confusion. Where oh where is truth amid all the fake news? 

My performance had an ensemble member reading the crucial part of Dromio of Ephesus, who is given the lovely closing lines about exiting the stage “hand in hand, not one before the other.” Normally cast with George Fouracres (a onetime Hamlet at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre), the role was skilfully taken, script in hand, by David Ijiti, who otherwise plays the part of Officer. In firm voice and dressed in street clothes at odds with the period garb elsewhere, Ijiti proved an able, physically supple talent opposite Jordan Metcalfe’s breech-wearing, madcap Dromio of Antipholus.

The antics make delightful use of the yard where a boat suddenly gets carried through some surprised groundlings, one of whom is (cheerfully) called out separately for being bald. Shop signs hang from the upper tiers of the structure, and Paul Wills’s set deploys the height of the space to unusual effect.

A few of the performances (Luciana, Angelo) could be reined in, but the diction – in a now-unamplified auditorium – is generally strong throughout, and the two Antipholi really land. Matthew Broome’s Ephesian twin has an uncanny knack for making Shakespeare sound entirely of the here and now. And Michael Elcock (Hex), as his Syracusan other self, is surpassingly lovely: a lively, quick-witted fellow who experiences more in a few giddy hours than most of us will in a lifetime. “Rejoice,” he commands as a parting shot, and so we do.

[*The Comedy of Errors is at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre through 29 July. Book The Comedy of Errors tickets on London Theatre.*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/27565-the-comedy-of-errors-globe)

*Photo credit: Phoebe Naughton and Michael Elcock in The Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare's Globe. (Photo by Marc Brenner)*

'The Comedy of Errors' review — Sean Holmes's production finds emotional depth amid the comedy

comedy of errors-1200x600-LT

Read our four-star review of the classical play *The Comedy of Errors*, currently in performances in London at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre through 29 July.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre opened in 1997. The Globe is a reconstruction of an open-air theatre designed in 1599. 

The 'wooden O' honours the 16th-century theatre: audience members can purchase a standing ticket and be a "groundling." [Find out more about Shakespeare's Globe in London.](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/news/visit-shakespeare-globe)

Shakespeare's Globe is also home to a second indoor theatre, the [Sam Wanamaker Playhouse](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/sam-wanamaker-playhouse). It is named after the organisation's founder, American actor and director Sam Wanamaker, father of [Zoe Wanamaker](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/zoe-wanamaker). 


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See double this summer at Shakespeare’s fizzy comedy all about mistaken identities at the Globe. *The Comedy of Errors* tickets are available on London Theatre now. 

Sean Holmes directs his third Shakespeare comedy in as many years. He’s previously helmed *A Midsummer Night’s Dream* and *The Tempest* at the Globe, with the latter given modern comedic flourishes. Our reviewer [hailed *The Tempest*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/reviews/the-tempest-review-shakespeares-globe-sean-holmes) as an "egg of a production — engaging and vital." So, it’ll be interesting to see what Holmes conjures up for this eccentric comedy, where finding the right person to talk to isn’t always as easy as it seems.

*The Comedy of Errors* is one of 36 plays in the First Folio — the inaugural edition of Shakespeare's plays. 2023 marks the 400th anniversary of the First Folio, and it's a crucial document to the Bard's legacy. Without the First Folio, 18 of Shakespeare's plays may never have survived. 

### What is *The Comedy of Errors* about? 

Two sets of twins share the same names: Antiphonus and Dromio. After both sets were separated from their twins in a shipwreck, they end up in rival cities. 20 years later, the pairs cross paths and quickly discover that their same-named friends cause mistaken identities. Can the twins find their parents and resolve their problems? Or, will unbelievable events change their lives in unimaginable ways? For these twins, seeing isn’t always believing. Now, they have to find out the truth.

Tickets to *The Comedy of Errors* are available now. Book your *The Comedy of Errors* tickets on London Theatre today.

The Comedy of Errors - LON - London Theatre

See double this summer as *The Comedy of Errors*. Sean Holmes directs Shakespeare’s madcap comedy about long-lost siblings and mistaken identities. Watch the chaos unfold and get tickets to *The Comedy of Errors* at Shakespeare's Globe on London Theatre today.

The Comedy of Errors Globe 2023 - LON - Box Office

Buy tickets for The Comedy of Errors at the Shakespeare's Globe in London. Find official theatre tickets to Plays with Box Office.

The Comedy of Errors Tickets | Box Office

Sean Holmes is no stranger to helming Shakespeare comedies. In recent years, he’s directed *A Midsummer Night’s Dream* and *The Tempest,* with both shows highly praised for their joyful, colourful visions. The Comedy of Errors will surely offer a new, revitalised take on one of the Bard’s earliest plays. 

*The Comedy of Errors* is one of 36 plays in the First Folio — the original collection of Shakespeare dramas. 2023 marks the First Folio’s 400th anniversary; an important year in the playwright’s enduring history and legacy. Shakespeare penned over a dozen comedies, including *The Merchant of Venice* and *Much Ado About Nothing*.

## What to Watch For: 

- Sean Holmes directs *The Tempest*. Before joining Shakespeare’s Globe as the associate artistic director, he served as the Lyric Hammersmith’s artistic director for a decade. 
- Characters utter the word “mad” over 30 times throughout the show, so this is one crazy comedy. As the consequences of mistaken identities become larger, it’s not surprising that everyone’s considered mad. 
- The first recorded performance of *The Comedy of Errors* took place on 28 Dec. 1594 at Gray’s Inn as part of Christmas festivities. Records state that fights broke out between audience members, and the performance lasted all night. 
- 

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