Playwright: William Shakespeare,
adapted by Barbara Gaines and Ron West
At: Chicago Shakespeare Theatre
at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand
Phone: 312-595-5600; $44-$70
Runs through: June 29
BY MARY SHEN BARNIDGE
Of all Shakespeare's plays needing—take a deep breath, now—a gimmick to sell it to modern audiences, The Comedy Of Errors ranks among the list-toppers. Based on Plautus' The Menaechmi ( premiering circa 150 B.C. ) , the plot is premised wholly on the unlikely circumstance of a pair of long-lost identical twin brothers and their likewise twin-sib valets suddenly thrown together in the same city, their adventures thereat encompassing many complications and inconveniencing many characters—one is rescued from execution in the nick of time—until a happy ending is finally resolved.
Past productions have embellished this one-note gag with exotic locales and colloquial translations, but Barbara Gaines and Ron West's adaptation goes a step further, surrounding the familiar scenario with a concept so imaginative and engaging that we barely notice the original text. Our setting is an English motion-picture studio in 1940, where a diminished staff is concentrating on filming a panto-style staging of—you guessed it—Shakespeare's Comedy Of Errors, to be distributed among the troops in Europe as a morale effort. This framing device provides us with, in addition to the slapstick inherent in the source material ( including the obligatory transvestite turn ) , laughs stemming from the company's male artists being solely those unfit for military service ( except for an American pop singer, presently enlisted in the RAF, assigned to guest-star duty ) , from the limited production budget necessitated by wartime rationing; the interruptions while everyone takes cover during enemy air raids; the homeland-security surveillance engendered by same; and the usual star temperaments and backstage peccadilloes.
But even with its insider giggles over certain key characters' resemblance to actual personalities ( Vivien Leigh, John Gielgud et al. ) , Gaines and West's goal is not simply a big-budget replica of a Canteen Comedy. Beneath the copious hi-jinks of the play-within and the play-without lies the comforting prospect of a diverse band of citizens—did I mention the flatulence-humor clown act that somehow ends up in the show?—triumphing over social disorder. Their up-and-at-em spirit is reflected in the performances of an all-star cast ( even the small roles filled by A-list players ) assembled for this Chicago Shakespeare Theatre production. Coming at the beginning of the tourist season, this lively take-off on a classic has all the potential to become an extended summer hit.