Aegeon of Syracuse has come to Ephesus to seek his son, who went in search of his missing twin and mother months ago. Unfortunately, Ephesus has just declared war on Syracuse, and will insta... Read allAegeon of Syracuse has come to Ephesus to seek his son, who went in search of his missing twin and mother months ago. Unfortunately, Ephesus has just declared war on Syracuse, and will instantly put to death any Syracusean found within their borders unless a ransom's paid. Meanwh... Read allAegeon of Syracuse has come to Ephesus to seek his son, who went in search of his missing twin and mother months ago. Unfortunately, Ephesus has just declared war on Syracuse, and will instantly put to death any Syracusean found within their borders unless a ransom's paid. Meanwhile, the son, Antipholus, and his servant, Dromio (also an identical twin), keep running i... Read all
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- TriviaDirector James Cellan Jones felt very strongly that the play was not just a farce, but included a serious side, specifically represented by the character of Aegeon, who has lost his family and is about to lose his life. In several productions Jones had seen, Aegeon was completely forgotten between the first and last scenes, and determined to avoid this, and hence give the production a more serious air, Jones had Aegeon wandering around Ephesus throughout the episode.
- GoofsThe last word Wendy Hiller speaks in Act V is "nativity", but Shakespeare has "festivity.
- ConnectionsEdited into Nothing Is Truer Than Truth (2018)
1983's production of 'The Comedy of Errors' as part of the inconsistent but fascinating and must-watch BBC Television Shakespeare series, ranging from 1978 to 1985, is neither among the best or worst of that series. In ranking, would put it somewhere in the solid middle. In that it is a well above average and even quite good production, but not a great one. It is mainly worth watching if trying to see as many productions of 'The Comedy of Errors' possible and to see all the BBC Television Shakespeare productions, to see performances of all of Shakespeare's plays (yes even the rarely done ones) that may be low budget but are mostly faithful and have talented casts. Those that like Cyril Cusack, Michael Kitchen, Charles Gray, Wendy Hiller et al. should find much to like about this production as well.
It is not a perfect production, and some of it is to do with the staging. It is stagy at times, there is some very distracting stage business bordering on overdone mugging (i.e. the mime) that was not needed and the beginning goes on for rather too long. Most of the very brave use of split screen is done surprisingly well, but there were points where it wasn't so seamless and was obvious, especially near the end.
Really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but couldn't help worrying that Roger Daltrey would be a disaster being somebody who didn't care for him in 'Tommy' and that he was swamped by everybody else. His role there and his dual/identical role in a Shakespeare comedy are so far apart and the former should have been more in his comfort zone. Actually he was a little better and not quite as out of place as expected as he does give his all, but he overdoes it and never really fully settled in the roles.
Everybody else fared well to brilliantly. Michael Kitchen is in the other dual/identical role and is much better, much more comfortable, he neither goes overboard or plays it too seriously, he is much less obvious and the roles fit him like a glove. He and Daltrey had the most difficult roles, but dual/identical roles can be done well and has proven to be (a big prime example being 'Dead Ringers', have been mentioning this film a lot recently but for good reason) and he does very well done. That said, there are better performances in the cast. Suzanne Bertish's Adriana is suitably feisty and Cusack, Gray and Hiller can be relied upon to give good performances and do and more. For me, the best performance comes from Cusack with Gray a very close second.
It's a good looking production on the whole. It's not high budget and not on location but does well considering the limitations. The sets are far from dreary or tack and there is more of a sense of time and place and authenticity than other productions of the series. The split screen is patchy but mostly not amateurish, while the production is nicely scored, it sounds appealing and it fits at least. The staging has its flaws, but has enough fun and absorbing moments and doesn't leave one in a muddle. It's a long way from being just under two hours of torture.
On the whole, quite good though with room for improvement. 7/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jun 6, 2019
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- The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors
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