The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors takes place in the city of Ephesus in Turkey, separated by two seas from Syracuse in Sicily, from whence one “pair” of twins travels to find their fraternal match: the Antipholus and the Dromio twins, born on the same day but separated via one of Shakespeare’s favorite devices, a cruel storm, each twin left for years to imagine his other half. Antipholus of Syracuse drags his long-suffering servant Dromio with him as he wanders around Ephesus looking for his twin. Strangeness compounds as the visitors are misrecognized by everyone (even spouses!), yet they don’t seem to twig that they have been taken for their brothers. The absurdity of this situation tips the play’s dark themes of loss and brutality into non-stop hilarity: in the hands of the brilliant Aaron Posner and his seven-person cast, you may laugh more in your two hours at this play than you have for a long time.