The Comedy of Errors (1983)
Directed by James Cellan Jones

Film Review

The Comedy of Errors may not be the greatest of Shakespeare's comedies but, if it is performed with gusto, it can be one of the most entertaining.  James Cellan Jones's staging of the play for the BBC Television Shakespeare has an irresistible pantomime feel to it, perhaps appropriately since it was originally transmitted in the UK on Christmas Eve in 1983.  In place of the subtle wordplay and carefully plotted intrigue that we associate with the mature Shakespeare we have a much broader, more accessible form of comedy, which is essentially pure farce.  Humour arising from mistaken identity has been around since the dawn of theatre, and The Comedy of Errors is essentially little more than an Elizabethan reworking of Plautus's Roman comedy Menaechmi.  There is nothing remotely profound about the play, which is one of the Bard's shortest and snappiest - it exists purely to entertain, and Cellan Jones's lively production does just that.

The most controversial aspect of the production was that the two sets of twins - Antipholus and Dromio - were played by two actors rather than the usual four.  Michael Kitchen and Roger Daltrey (lead-singer with The Who, now an accomplished and likeable actor) both do an excellent job of delineating their respective characters (despite what some critics have said Daltrey shows a natural flair for Shakespearean comedy).  This inevitably creates a problem when the twins have to appear on screen together in the later scenes of the play.  The actors have to be 'doubled up' by the old device of split screen, and the result isn't entirely convincing.  Happily, this is the only technical shortcoming in an otherwise flawless production.

As ever, the BBC assembled a remarkable troupe of actors that includes long established theatrical divas and an odd mix of actors you would never in a million years associate with Shakespeare.  Even more surprising than Daltrey in the made-to-measure role of Dromio there is Ingrid Pitt, as buxom and sultry as ever as the vindictive Courtesan, who looks uncannily as if she is reliving her most famous role in Hammer's The Vampire Lovers (1970).  Another Hammer veteran, Charles Gray, shows up as a creepily likeable Duke of Ephesus, a slight comedown after his magisterial roles in two previous plays in the series, Richard II (1978) and Julius Caesar (1979).  Seasoned pros Cyril Cusack and Wendy Hiller bring the requisite touch of class and sobriety, and a magnificent Suzanne Bertish gives great value as a fiery Adriana.  Some colourful set design with an authentic period feel adds to the gaiety of the proceedings and helps to make this one of the more vibrant and enticing entries in the BBC Television Series - a good place to start for anyone who has yet to discover the joys of Shakespeare.  Perfect for Christmas.

Film Synopsis

When Egeon, a Syracusian merchant, arrives in Ephesus he is arrested and sentenced to death, as a law forbids his countrymen from entering the city.  He tells the Duke that he is searching for his son Antipholus and slave Dromio, who were on a quest to find their respective twin brothers whom they haven't seen since a tragic incident separated them in childhood.  The Duke shows his mercy by granting the old man until sunset to find the thousand marks for the fine he must pay or else be executed.  Little does Egeon know that both of his sons are in the city, along with the two Dromios, and that a series of comic escapades will soon result through mistaken identity.  The Syracusian Antipholus is surprised to find he has a wife, Adriana, who finds his behaviour so strange that she concludes he is mad...