Published in The News Tribune, Nov. 13, 2015
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| Ben Stahl as Antipholus and Frank Roberts as Dromio |
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| Jodie Chapin as Adriana and Ben Stahl as Antipholu. Photos by Kate Paterno-Lick |
Director Kristie Worthey and the
Lakewood Playhouse took a bold risk in presenting Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of
Errors” as a contemporary comedy set in Portland, Ore., with a large cast
filled with fresh young faces. Messing with Shakespeare is nothing new; he’s
the most messed-with playwright in history. His plays are nearly always edited
and it is not uncommon to update them to modern times. Sometimes it works, and
probably more often than not it doesn’t. Sadly, Lakewood Playhouse’s bold
experiment does not.
In the crowd scenes with
mostly young and inexperienced actors portraying street performers and other
“Keep Portland Weird” hippie characters, they are loud, clichéd almost to the point of offensive, and not
particularly funny. I don’t think this is because of the age of the actors; the
director simply didn’t pull it off.
Many of the principle
characters, by contrast, are excellent, most notably Ben Stahl as Antipholus
and Jodie Chapin as Adriana.
“A Comedy of Errors” is one of
Shakespeare’s earliest plays, and critics generally consider it one of his
least successful. Even the director of this productions seems to agree, stating
in her program notes, “… while it might not be his wittiest or cleverest play,
it does portend word play and scenarios in plays to come; a peek into his
creative process.” It has been suggested that in this play Shakespeare tried
out many of the plot lines and tropes perfected in his later comedies such as
“Twelfth Night,” a grown-up and more sophisticated version of this earlier
play.
This
version plays on the supposed friendly competition between Portland and
Seattle. Aegeon (Cameron Waters), a building developer of Seattle whose
new project in Portland is slated to be killed, begs the mayor (Chris
Johnstone) for one day to raise money to save the project. Meanwhile, his son Antipholus of Seattle
(Stahl), comes to Portland where his long-lost twin brother Antipholus of
Portland is a bike shop owner. The identically named identical twins have
identical twin slaves, both named Dromio (Frank Roberts, with Waters doubling
as one of the Dromios when they’re on stage at the same time). In typical
Shakespearean fashion, everybody confuses the two sets of twins, including the Portland
Antipholus’s wife, Adriana (Chapin) and her sister, Luciana (Nastassia
Reynolds), whom the Seattle Antipholus falls in love with.
Roberts is outstanding
portraying two very different characters, the two Dromios. Likewise, Stahl
shows great versatility and a wide range of facial and bodily expressions as
Antipholus and Antipholus. Most outstanding and a beginning actor who should be
destined for good things is Chapin as Adriana. Seldom have I seen an actor so
thoroughly understand a character and become that character so convincingly.
The scene where she seduces the twin she thinks is her husband is comic gold,
played amazingly well by both Chapin and Stahl. Chapin is also loveable, sassy
and funny in a scene on roller skates.
Kudos to Bret Carr for the
wonderful set design with the in-joke advertising signs and the flying, cut-out
Portland bridges and skylines.
Despite clever word play and
funny local references, and despite excellent acting by the main characters, I
felt in the end that I had just watched a lampoon of Shakespeare written and
produced by high schoolers.
WHEN:
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Nov. 29
WHERE:
Lakewood Playhouse, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood
TICKETS: $25.00, $22.00 military,
$21.00 seniors and $19.00 students/educators, pay what you can
INFORMATION: 253-588-0042, www.lakewoodplayhouse.org
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