• The Comedy of Errors (review)

    Author(s):
    HC Admin
    Date:
    2011
    Subject(s):
    English drama, Sixteenth century, Seventeenth century, Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616, Theater
    Item Type:
    Review
    Tag(s):
    The Comedy of Errors, William Shakespeare
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/fjc4-k174
    Abstract:
    Director Sean Graney’s work can typically be categorized as either ex- plicitly experimental or engaging with the tradition of adaptation. These aesthetic trajectories merged in the Court Theatre’s The Comedy of Errors, a meaty 90-minute production focused on skirting buffoonery in order to find translatable humor within William Shakespeare’s farcical language. As Graney stated during a post-performance discussion, “I wanted the play to feel funny in new ways,” which is an often-difficult task given the play’s archaic humor. Indeed, Errors has a performance history marked by the inability to reconcile its absurd elements, on which the plot and play depend, with contemporary tastes. Graney addressed this problem by focusing on issues of identity confusion and the farce tradition. The result was a pliant dark comedy anchored by bodily representations of humor and highlighting the problem of Renaissance comedic anachronisms.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1353/shb.2011.0004
    Publisher:
    Project Muse
    Pub. Date:
    2011-4-11
    Journal:
    Shakespeare Bulletin
    Volume:
    29
    Issue:
    1
    Page Range:
    60 - 64
    ISSN:
    1931-1427
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 months ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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