Chris Pickles - Director
Adrian Lillie - Designer
Georgina King - Assistant Designer
Paul Knight - Music

Dermot Canavan - Luce/Courtesan/Abbess
Richard Eckles - Angelo/Officer/Jailer
Cory English - Dromio
Henry Everett - Antipholus
Simon Goodall - Duke/Officer
Stephen Harvey - Egeon/Balthasar/Dr Pinch
Stephanie Langton - Luciana
Carolyn Tomkinson - Adriana

"It's not where you start," the cast of this exuberant outdoor performance of Shakespeare's early comedy sing, "it's where you finish." The line has a strong resonance for the play's plot - the reunion of two pairs of identical twins after 25 years - but also for the fraught realities of staging open air theatre during the British summer.
On the opening night, a stormy sky pelted us all with cold rain for half an hour. The stage was covered in polythene, while the audience resignedly put up brollies and donned waterproofs. It looked like the kind of uniquely British scene at which Cliff Richard might pop up for a rousing medley. From these damp beginnings, however, the Oxford Shakespeare Company brought us a hugely warm and engaging performance. Playing the drama as a slapstick romp, with nods to silent film, Benny Hill, musicals, pantomime, Laurel and Hardy and commedia dell'arte, it did so in a mood of celebration of the play, rendering its somewhat creaky plot a carnival of possibilities for song, dance, bad jokes and comic embellishment, including a walk-on part for Al Capone and the cast pausing at one point to say: "This line? Nobody knows what it means. Nobody."
Within the camp tomfoolery, Chris Pickles's direction is sharp and smart, playing on the theme of mirror images. Performances are faultless, and there is a sense of joy about them. Drawing on an eclectic range of references, this production doesn't aim, as some have, to explore the existential angst of separation or the bewilderment of finding yourself mirrored in a twin who is a stranger. Instead, it's a toe-tapping, heart-warming hoot. Just what you need in the drizzle.

The Guardian - Elisabeth Mahoney - ****

Shakespeare Comedy Shines
Last week your intrepid columnist braved the ridicule of the mean streets of Clapham to bring back the good oil on theatre in Battersea. This week, undaunted, I made for the historic (and usually hidden) precincts of Lincoln’s Inn, one of the odd but fascinating enclaves of the British legal system in the heart of London.
The Comedy of Errors was probably first performed al fresco to drunken lawyers at nearby Grays's Inn in 1594. Open air is always a risk. It sluiced down: a tropical torrent more familiar to Darwinians or Queenslanders than Brits. But the Oxford Shakespeare Company battled against the odds, despite heaving skies and a dizzying plot, to keep the audiences’ bums on their seats until the final rousing number.
It is Shakespeare at its best: inventive, well acted and injected with a heap of energy. The story depends on the unlikely misunderstandings caused by two sets of identical twins, draconian trade laws and of course, true love. Elements of vaudeville, slapstick, commedia dell arte and American show tunes combined seamlessly to deliver a brilliantly entertaining production, occasionally spiced up with a few unexpected, un - bard like, contemporary gags. This knockabout, athletic romp is genuinely funny. The music and sound effects were tremendous. The quality of performance and sheer gusto of the talented cast was a delight. They act, they sing, they dance, they wrestle, they break wind!
If you can get an audience to belly laugh at 400 year old jokes in a downpour ¯ you’ve got to be doing it right. In the extraordinary garden surroundings of Lincoln’s Inn - with the shades of beery sixteenth century barristers looking on - the style and spirit of the original was faithfully conjured up. Shakespeare would have approved.

Australian Times - Peter McGlone

Rib-tickling romp from the Bard
You will not have as much enjoyment in any theatre this summer as at Lincoln's Inn watching The Comedy of Errors.
The production staged in the upper garden of the legal institution by the Oxford Shakespeare Company has more wit, energy and panache than Ben Elton or Andrew Lloyd Webber have ever displayed in the West End, revealing great understanding of and sympathy with Shakespeare's work.
The bard's one real farce, written early in his career around 1591, is an absurd work full of situation comedy and ridiculous incidents. And the Oxford Shakespeare Company has taken the work at face value. There is no attempt to read antsy hidden meaning or import. Instead musical director has composed several snappy tunes owing much to vaudeville, and the whole cast have great fun in a performance the whole family will love. The plot is almost too convoluted to go into in any great detail: suffice to say it involves a merchant from Syracuse who is desperate to unite his family, his wife Amelia, twin sons both called Antipholus ¯ one living in Syracuse, the other Ephesus ¯ and their servants both twins called Dromio, who were wrenched apart in a ferocious storm.
It is not hard to imagine what chaos this confusion of names and identical twins causes. Perhaps the outstanding feature of the production is the direction by Chris Pickles. Not only does he direct the play ably, he also includes dances sequences featuring choreography (devised by Cory English who plays Dromio).
There are several eye-catching vignettes: an especially eye-catching moment involves Adriana (played with suitably jealous passion by Carolyn Tomkinson) grappling at the ankles of the man she supposes is her husband.
There are some very good voices on display too, particularly Carolyn Tomkinson's, Simon Goodall is terrific as the camp game show host Duke of Ephesus while Stephanie Langton's Luciana, the younger sister of Adriana, is a delight. And Cory English is hilarious, tackling the two hapless
Dromio roles with relish. Even if it rains you will have fun. Just go.

Camden New Journal - Joel Taylor

Just because it's September, that doesn't mean the Oxford Shakespeare season is over. And just in case this reviewer might, by now, be a little befuddled as to which Shakespeare play he is going to see, a divine reminder is duly supplied ¯ as I grab a bite of supper before-hand, identical twins are sitting at the next table.
Food eaten it's off to see the convoluted mayhem surrounding two pairs of twins in The Comedy of Errors. The venue ids appropriate too: the venerable legal institution, Lincoln's Inn. Nowadays the atmosphere is distinctly sober, but in Shakespeare's days things were different: The Comedy of Errors may well have been written to entertain boozy London lawyers.
After a hard day in court, no doubt those lawyers were not the least bit interested in angst ridden interpretations featuring the pain of separation felt especially by twins. Due notice is served that this Oxford Shakespeare Company production will also contain no solemn undercurrents ¯ as you take your outdoor seat, the sounds of the cast warm-number can be heard rising from behind a bush. The number is Tonight from West Side Story, and yes, it is duly woven into the show. As the musical director is Paul Knight, veteran of eight Oxford Playhouse Christmas shows, it is not surprising that a distinct air of panto infuse the musical proceedings ¯ beginning with a hilariously choreographed version of Another Opening, Another Show.
Subtle this is not, but the music perfectly matches director Chris Pickles's approach to the comedy itself. There's a panto approach here too. "Oh, you've got the script with you, have you?" says one of the twin servants (both named Dromio), as he advances on one of the audience. "Perhaps you can explain what that line of text actually means". Director Chris Pickles also borrows freely from farce, summer seaside shows, and the golden age of Hollywood ¯ Joan Crawford herself could hardly surpass Carolyn Tomkinsin as the embittered, jealous Adriana, who indulges in bursts of splendidly over-acted rage, while her sister Luciana (Stephanie Langton, an ideal foil) giggles continuously in the background. As for the men, they come in all shapes and sizes, from the smooth twin brothers (both played by Henry Everett), to the ultra bouncy Dromios (both Cory English), to an array of comic cops, courtesans in drag, and gay executioners ¯ all played with infectious enthusiasm by Dermot Canavan, Richard Eckles, Simon Goodall, and Stephen Harvey. If you're a po-faced purist, you may not like the way that Shakespeare's creaky plot is irreverently sent up, but for everyone else there's much fun to be had from this fast paced production.

Oxford Times - Giles Woodeforde

After the updated hit The Bomb-itty Of Errors and a recent hip-hop version of The Boys from Syracuse, this open-air play-with-music from the Oxford Shakespeare Company. They’ve kept the text in tact but play up this early Shakespeare romp for maximum modern laughs, adding song-and-dance numbers borrowed from a motley selection of old shows. And why not ¯ Shakespeare’s version was always meant as a light fluffy crowd-pleaser, probably enlivened by adlibs and pop songs of the day. It’s rather an endearing and eccentric evening, in fact, somewhere between a wartime concert party, (superior) improve session and in-yer-face street performance.
The plot is already too silly for words, revolving around a set of identical twins and their identical twin slaves (both twins bizarrely having the same name) who are parted by a shipwreck and unwittingly run across each other 25 years on. Naturally they are mistaken for each other by various friends, relatives and servants, leading to what the Bard thought were probably hilarious consequences.
Director Chris Pickles has wisely opted to give Shakespeare’s comedy a hand ¯ adding ad-libs in modern slang, an executioner in black leather bondage gear, an Antipholus impersonating Leslie Phillips (“Hell-oh! What are you doing after the show?”), a Duke who conducts executions like a game-show host and assorted mafia gangsters, gay policemen and chaps in drag. Even if some of Shakespeare’s more laboured gags still tax your patience, the joi de vivre of the cast proves as infectious as the leafy alfresco setting is seductive. With such a ribald and irreverent attitude, perhaps this company should try out a full-on musical next season. That should give the Regent's park lot a bit of competition.

What’s On in London - Helen Chappell

The next grand Night was intended to be upon Innocents-Day at Night; at which time there was a great Presence of Lords, Ladies, and worshipful Personages, that did expect some notable Performance at that time; which, indeed, had been effected, if the multitude of Beholders had not been so exceedingly great, that thereby there was no convenient room for those that were the Actors… There arose such a disordered Tumult and Crowd upon the Stage, that there was no opportunity to effect that which was intended… The Throngs and Tumult did somewhat cease, although so much of them continued, as was able to disorder and confound any good intention whatsoever… It was thought good not to offer anything of Account, saving Dancing and Revelling with Gentlewomen; and after such sports, a Comedy of Errors (like to Plautus his Menechmus) was played by the players. So that Night was begun, and continued to the end, in nothing but Confusion and Errors, whereupon, it was ever afterwards called, ‘The Night of Errors’.
- From the Gesta Grayorum of 1594

The above, taken from the Gray’s Inn records, is probably a description of the first performance of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors on the 2 th of December 1594. We do not know if the play was written specifi cally to be performed at this annual riotous gathering of drunken lawyers, or whether the Chamberlain’s Men decided that the only play already in their repertoire that might possibly grab the attention of that particular audience was the hugely energetic farce-comedy of The Comedy of Errors. It’s good to think that the play has almost come back home, now being performed again under the legal umbrella here at Lincoln’s Inn. Whatever the truth is, it was a great choice, (although I know few actors who would relish performing to that particular audience, even with such wonderful material). No one at that performance would probably have been in the right frame of mind to watch, for example, a more delicate and dark play such as the almost contemporary Two Gentlemen of Verona or the much longer The Taming of the Shrew.

The explosion of sheer fun that is The Comedy of Errors has captivated audiences of all ages (drunk or sober) ever since that fi rst night over four hundred years ago. You can call it a farce if you wish, but the play defi es categories. I believe the best way of describing The Comedy of Errors is that it is quite simply a romp.

And that is what Shakespeare intended to write. After all, when he adapted the ancient Roman comedy Menaechmi, he doubled the fun by doubling the number of Plautus’ original identical twins. Of course we feel a tender sympathy for Egeon and Antipholus of Syracuse and their longings to be reunited as a family; we may also empathise with Adriana’s searingly painful jealousy. But above all it is the madcap comedy of mistaken identities that carries us through to the play’s happy ending on a wave of joyously theatrical comedy.

Chris Pickles
June 2004