Comedy of Errors

The Maskers Theatre Company presented The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare, directed by Graham Buchanan at The Nuffield Theatre, Southampton in 1979.

The Southampton Evening Echo said;

    The modern farce has nothing on Shakespeare. His "Comedy of Errors" is jam-packed with wit and cracks, most of them just as funny now as they were four centuries ago. The Maskers manage commendably to bring out the best of this situation comedy in their performance at the Nuffield Theatre this week. They strur and fret about the stage, throwing themselves from quip to crack, and whipping themselves to a frenzy in the tortuous series of events

    The basis of the plot is that twin brothers and twin servants are accidentally separated at birth. The action takes place 33 years later when, again by accident, they are reunited. he stuff of the play is the jumble of mistaken identities that thereby arise, totally implausible but perfect material for the comic actor. The two Dromios, twin servants, control the comedy best as two Shakespearian fools. And he amazing physical resemblance of Pete White and Brian Stansbridge fooled me more than once.

Graham Buchanan's production is a highly polished and pleasing one. A special word of praise should go to the designers of the masks (Ann Archer and Belinda Drew), and of the stage clock (Ken Spencer).

The Players

For The Maskers