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Time to smile: ‘The Comedy of Errors’ promises laughs, fresh perspectives at Interlochen’s Shakespeare Festival
For this year’s Festival, Director of Theatre Bill Church wanted to do something a little different.
Set designer Edward T. Morris (IAC 97-98) shows off the vivid yellow set of The Comedy of Errors.
“It's been a long time since we've done a comedy—we’ve been very tragical-historical for the last three summers. But it’s time to smile. And The Comedy of Errors is really funny.”
After a long stint of tragedy (Richard III, Othello, and Julius Caesar are the festival’s most recent productions), Director of Theatre Bill Church is excited to steer Interlochen’s Shakespeare Festival in a more optimistic direction. The Comedy of Errors, one of Shakespeare’s early plays, promises laughs aplenty as well as a vibrant setting and timely themes.
Situational humor and a search for belonging
Much of the play’s humor springs from the plot, which puts the characters into all kinds of bizarre situations. After being separated from their respective twin brothers in their infancy, Antipholus and his servant set out to locate their long-lost siblings. But upon arriving at their destination, the city of Ephesus, the duo are immediately confused with their twins—sparking an outrageous procession of mishaps including a wrongful arrest and a near-seduction.
Church says the play is rooted in a search for belonging and community, two themes he thinks are incredibly relevant today.
“Although we’ve been out of the pandemic for a while now, we all remember what it was like to be so isolated, so shut away from each other,” he notes. “Theatre couldn’t happen, because theatre involves people coming together in enclosed spaces to experience stories together. But now that has completely lifted. We get to find each other again, to find ourselves again. And that’s what this play is all about.”
Why the swing era setting?
Though written during the Renaissance and set in various times throughout history, Shakespeare’s plays are frequently transposed into a variety of time periods. This adaptation of The Comedy of Errors is set at the height of the swing era, evoking jazzy big band music and lively partner dancing.
“Our goal with the setting was to bring in joy, happiness, brightness, and color,” says Church. “The idea came when I was driving home one day from work and Sirius XM played a song by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, a swing revival band. I found myself smiling and thinking, ‘This is so fun to listen to. There's a great beat and everything is happy and uplifting.’ Then I started looking at what clothes would look like in the swing era from the 20s through the 40s—the patterns and colors of what everybody wore. I shared it with our designers in set, costume, music, and lighting, and they all loved the idea. They had a huge world to work with, and it was so full of joy.”
Church says to expect some dancing, too: cast member Matt Lindstrom, who also happens to be a theatre arts dance instructor, has used his expertise to choreograph several buoyant numbers for the production.
The Comedy of Errors prop master Joel Reedy leans out of one of the many peek-through windows on the set.
Spreading joy with every performance
The cast also features a dozen Interlochen alumni from Camp and Academy—which leads to unparalleled cast chemistry.
“Shakespeare Festival is created for our faculty, staff, and alumni to perform together,” says Church. “Five of them are students who just graduated from the Academy and are doing their first professional work, and the six principals are all fairly recent graduates who are in their twenties. When they got back to campus to rehearse, they were all so joyous to see each other again and so glad to be back on campus. That kind of joy in coming together is really the theme of the play.”
Although likely written in the 1590s, The Comedy of Errors remains just as amusing and accessible today as it was to its original audiences. Its shorter length makes for breezy evening entertainment—perfect for a date night.
“This would be such a unique and fun date night because it's an outdoor venue,” says Church. “The play is beautiful, understandable, and funny. Your date is going to laugh and it’s going to be gorgeous out.”
For audiences seeking a fun and celebratory summer evening, The Comedy of Errors is a great option.
Interlochen Shakespeare Festival’s The Comedy of Errors will be running June 28-29 and July 5-6 with showtimes at 8 p.m. Tickets are available here.
