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Against all the odds, Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre is back and its opening night is a huge success. Despite being a scaled down event – a smaller audience, no bar, and no theatrical bells and whistles (read: lights and audience interaction), the atmosphere is rich in laughter and good spirits, and, as a good omen, the weather is dry and pleasantly warm. Returning to the park then, is like stepping into a warm bath – familiar, comforting, and just the trick after a miserable few months.
This year Alex Clifton, artistic director of Storyhouse, directs a slimline cast of just 8 including two sets of identical twins. Promoted from their 2014 roles from servants to masters, Nichole and Danielle Bird now play the Antipholus siblings, while Lowri (American Nightmare) and Mari Izzard (Gwaith/Cartref) are cast as the Dromio brothers. Completing the cast are Park veterans Anton Cross (Barnaby in 2016’s Stig of the Dump), Danielle Henry (Host in 2015’s The Merry Wives of Windsor) and Jess Dives, returning to Grosvenor for a consecutive year, as well as Storyhouse regular Simeon Truby (star of A Little Night Music and The Crucible), making this year’s casting a real family affair. It’s a happy reunion and I don’t think you could choose a more thematically fitting play, nor a cast who deliver more solid performances.
It’s worth remembering this is an original performance rather than a revival of 2014, which is a triumph given that actors had only 2 weeks’ rehearsal time via Zoom and outdoors while working in their bio-bubble. This production is light, peppered with slapstick comedy, and choreographed innovatively to minimise performer proximity, as well as featuring a genuinely touching ending. Totalling just 80 minutes, the plot is condensed, which is by no means a bad thing considering Shakespeare’s penchant for convoluted sub-plots (Shakespeare purists, hangst thou me later).
Designer Jess Curtis uses a simple set design of colourful bunting and arranged wooden crates and barrels, giving the impression of a port or market in the ancient, coastal city of Ephesus. The barrels represent the transitional nature of the play and the transactional themes, as well as providing different levels on which the actors perform. One of the wooden exit doors is used for scenes outside the priory and the home of Antipholus, while together, the four exits within the Globe-like theatre work excellently for Scooby-Doo-esque chases and just-missed meetings. Clifton chooses to cast the warring cities of Syracuse and Ephesus, home to each long lost twin, as England and Wales, playfully poking fun at Chester's neighbouring Cymraeg cousins, particularly when a Welsh-speaking Courtesan (Jess Dives) enters and Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse (Nichole Bird and Mari Izzard) pronounce her to be worse than the devil himself.
The movement direction is precise and the utilisation of the whole space in different ways is admirable considering that cast and creatives were confined to their Zoom windows for half of their rehearsal time. There are some fantastic socially distanced strikes and wallops, aided by a drum bang, as well as a the use of a wooden rattle to enhance Welsh-voiced Antipholus (Danielle Bird) of Ephesus's cartoony arm swinging as she prepares to batter down the door - tampin', pure ragein' - over one of many cases of mistaken identity. The Antipholus twins wear geezer-like braces and pinstripes, while the long-suffering Dromio twins (usually on the receiving end of the thumps) are decked in waistcoats and flat caps like gardeners-cum-lackeys; the overall effect perhaps leans towards a subtle 30’s twist. Overall, the costumes are fairly modern but with a collective Mediterranean colour palette of greens, oranges and blues to connect livery and scenery.
The production is sprinkled with various cover songs featuring the accordion, banjo, double bass, and guitar, predominantly played by multi-talented Dives and Truby. The musical interludes are upbeat, short, and snappy, but it would have been nice to have longer pieces to get into the party spirit. The choice for snippets, however, may have been down to safety rather than an artistic decision. Either way, each opening lyric comments directly on the action moments before, making for some very pointed and humorous observations. Song highlights include Crazy by Gnarls Barkley and a closing rendition of Wham! classic, Club Tropicana, which ends the show on a celebratory note. The audience are warmly responsive, particularly to the music – I notice a few sing-alongs and lots of rhythmic clapping; it seems that everyone is genuinely happy to be here – cast and spectators alike.
2020 has so far been a tragedy, but GPOAT’s summer comedy manages to bring much needed laughter back into the world. With inventive staging, toe-tapping songs, and an infectious, feel-good atmosphere, The Comedy of Errors ticks every box; it’s a creative and physical triumph that sets the blueprints for other theatre productions emerging in our ‘new normal’.
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