Playwright: Carlo Goldoni
At: Trapdoor Theatre at Angel Island,
731 W. Sheridan
Phone: (773) 384-0494; $15
Runs through: Aug. 9
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More than 200 years ago, commedia dell'Arte theater was in its heyday in Italy. And then Carlo Goldoni came along and changed
everything. In the 1700s, Goldoni departed from the standard convention of commedia dell'Arte and produced a fully scripted play,
The Venetian Twins. Until that time commedia dell'Arte was marked by calculated improvisation (situations, characters, and scenes
were fleshed out by the playwright, and the actors—always masked —brought to life what was on paper with their own interpretations
and words).
Three hundred years later, Trapdoor Theatre, under the quick, smart direction of Michael S. Pieper, demonstrates the form hasn't
lost an ounce of energy over the centuries. Pieper's production goes at the commedia form with gusto, charm, and a firm finger on
commedia's sense of the absurd and roiling atmosphere of the farcical. The Venetian Twins is Roman playwright Plautus run through
the sensibilities of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors.
Goldoni took the story of a pair of identical twins, Zanetto and Tonino, appearing in Verona without each other's knowledge to
wed respective brides. The brothers, identical in looks, but polar opposites in persona and intellect, seem to never show up at the
same time. Naturally, this results in all sorts of confusion, and love, marriage, and wealth all succumb to possible ruin due to the
brother's constantly being mistaken for one another. Trapdoor showcases the story at breakneck pace, never giving the audience a
chance to reflect on its deeper messages of crossed connections, familial bonding, romantic love, fidelity, and deception. But, these
messages, like the humor and energy, tend to stay with the viewer after he or she has left the theater.
Trapdoor has done some very funny work here and their updating the story to a twentieth century Italy (both in costume and
language; the translation is by Michael Feingold) makes it highly accessible. One need not be schooled in classical theater to
appreciate the physical humor, the bawdy jokes, or the frenetic delivery. At just over two hours, this Venetian Twins moves along at a
clip well ahead of a gondola. The ensemble, particularly G. Wayne Prejean's dual male leads, has the broad style down perfectly.
Beata Pilch, as one of the confused fiancees, is particularly good at chewing up the scenery (designed by Pieper). Here, though,
that's a compliment because she's right on cue.
The Venetian Twins is a fun summer romp, with the right ingredients: a clever, classic script done by people who understand it:
they know how to dig in all the right places for the crass, but knowing, humor.