On Saturday March 29, 2003 I saw a production of "The Comedy of Errors," written by William Shakespeare, at The Hilberry Theatre. Overall, I enjoyed this play. By far it was the best of the three Wayne State University performances I experienced this semester. However, there were many scenes in the play that I found confusing. The day after the play, I read the script to gain a deeper understanding of some of these situations within the play. After seeing this production, I was pleased with certain aspects of the play and displeased with others.
First, the pre-play experience was very energetic. As the audience gathered I felt that there was a much more positive energy and enthusiasm for the production than there was at the two performances I saw at The Bonstelle Theatre earlier this semester. The seating was almost completely full and there also appeared to be more variety in age. Throughout the play, the inter audience rapport was positive. There were many points were the audience laughed and there were very few people sleeping during the show!.
My main criticism of play "The Comedy of Errors" is the writing of the script. The language style used was very complicated for me to comprehend. Especially in the very beginning of the play where I felt that the exposition was unclear. The introduction to the plot was very difficult to understand. The actor's performances were of good quality but I didn't really understand what they were saying which started me out in a state of confusion. It took reading the text to understand that the initial scenes were about the separation of a family and a the shipwrecked man Egeon (Mark Robson), a merchant of Syracuse, who was pleading for his freedom and relating his story before being put in jail.
Furthermore, I feel that my confusion was due primarily Shakespearean writing. The playwright of this play, Shakespeare, is so foreign-sounding to the modern ear.
