One of the pleasures of Oxford summer evenings is the proliferation of outdoor Shakespeare on show for the tourist and the residents. The Comedy of Errors is one of the most accessible of the Bard’s plays. It revolves around two identical twins (both called Antipholus) with identical twin servants (both Dromio) who are separated in a shipwreck. Their father Egeon goes in search of the missing son and of course all manner of confusion ensues before the inevitable happy ending.
The curiously named Don’t Hate the Players Theatre Company made a fine stab at bringing the play to life against the back-drop of Oxford Castle for a very mixed audience. Choosing the circus as a setting facilitated the disguise of the two Antipholuses and the two Dromios, with the latter pair (dressed, inevitably, as clowns) providing excellent comic performances throughout. The cast played hard for laughs and mostly this came off, even when one of the two tricks involving audience participation went wrong – though thankfully not too wrong as a key element in it was trying not to squash the cup with the nasty looking nail in it!
Alexander Cornelius did a bit of scene-stealing as Nell and a courtesan, but the cast as a whole worked very hard at keeping us all entertained. The enthusiasm of the audience underlined how well they succeeded.
On a practical note, it was great to be given (no charge) rugs to wrap ourselves in for the second half. As the wind blew around us and the sky darkened, it did get colder, but the nature of outdoor theatre is often that in such circumstances the camaraderie amongst the audience and the cast intensifies. I think that was true of this performance – though maybe that is partly the glass of wine talking!
Incidentally, how nice to see that the cast was not made up solely of ‘young’ people. DHTPTC state in their programme that they believe strongly in the fair treatment of their actors and in making theatre more accessible to the people of Oxford. Do go along and support them. Oxford would be a much lesser place without committed cast and crews putting on such excellent entertainment.