A Comedy Tonight with “The Comedy of Errors”

Hub City Theatre Company

When William Shakespeare began writing plays, he mainly wrote historical plays; however, the moment he dipped his toe outside of the historical he decided to write a comedy. That comedy was “The Comedy of Errors”. Centuries later, we see the Hub City Theatre Company take their time to present this play to an audience at the Rotary Park just outside of the Jackson-Madison County Library. The show debuted on Mar. 28th and is directed by Isabella Gray, the Social Media Director for the Hub City Theatre Company. More performances include Mar. 29th at 7:30 p.m., Mar. 30th at 3:00 p.m., Apr. 4th and 5th at 7:30 p.m., and one final performance on Apr. 6th at 3:00 p.m.

The story follows Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, as they travel to Ephesus to find their twins of the same names. However, with their arrival, multiple cases of mistaken identity take place that leads to ensuing chaos of the people in the show. The cast features Elisa Williams as Antipholus of Syracuse, Olivia Wyatt as Dromio of Syracuse, Crista Beals as Antipholus of Ephesus, James Matthew Wyatt as Dromio of Ephesus, and many more.

As many people know with Shakespeare plays they’re very difficult to understand. As someone that has taken many theater classes and read many Shakespeare plays, even I found them difficult to understand. However, this show found a way to make the show understandable for an audience member.

I was thoroughly enthralled by the entire performance. When I should’ve been taking notes of the show, I found myself focused on what the performers were doing in the show. I was laughing at the comedy, I was focused on the dialogue, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of the performers. This entire experience was a treat that I would want to share with everyone.

The setting of the show was not the traditional, Shakespearean setting. No, it was set in a 1920s mountain town in Appalachia, and I thought the setting fit the show. The cast was able to consistently keep their southern accents but also weave it into the language of Shakespeare. The set decoration and music that played before and after the performance helped bring me into the setting as well. The setting was a great choice and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

One of my favorite bits of comedy is physical comedy. I love when people use their bodies to emphasize a comedic beat, and I also enjoy slapstick comedy. Pratt falls make me belly laugh, and this show had multiple instances of that. However, there were multiple times I worried about the safety of the actors that performed those falls.

Now, I must talk about the cast. I spoke with multiple cast members after the show to congratulate them on making the story understandable for the audience, and all of them spoke about the team effort that went into making it work; whilst also giving praise to one of their fellow cast members: Gavin Richardson, who is an English professor at Union University. He garnered much praise from the cast for his work behind-the-scenes, and I must also say that I very much enjoyed his expository character in the show. He is only in two scenes in the entire play, but I thought in both of his scenes he gave much needed exposition in the first scene and showed deep emotion in the second.

I think another positive aspect of the show was the cast being able to project in the outdoor setting. That was definitely something I was worried about when arriving at Rotary Park. I made sure I sat close to the stage because of a fear of not being able to hear them, but after a while, I realized that I shouldn’t have had those fears. Some of the characters had microphones and others didn’t, and the ones without microphones were able to project far enough to where they could be heard at the back of the park.

The two actors that played the two Dromios, Olivia Wyatt and James Matthew Wyatt, were tremendous. Both had such great comedic timing, and both were perfect in the physical comedy sphere. From what the cast told me, they are both siblings so it’s almost perfect that they share similar mannerisms in the show; whilst also making their respective roles their own. They also got the most laughs from the audience which was very deserved.

I also believe the two actors that played the two Antipholuses, Elisa Williams and Crista Beals, were great at playing the opposite ends of the spectrums. Whilst the Dromios got to be boisterous and over the top, the Antipholuses had to play the straight men. Elisa and Crista did amazing jobs playing the more subdued characters. However, in certain scenes, they were both given moments to go over the top, and I think they both did great in both of those scenes.

Heather Zerfoss, who plays Antipholus of Ephesus’s (Crista Beals) wife Adriana, does an amazing job as a, sort of, scorned lover at moments, but she excels when she has moments of “I gettin’ tired of this man’s nonsense”. I think she is a stand out for her time on stage.

Another stand out character, and this leans into my physical comedy sensibilities, was Dr. Pinch played tremendously by Peyton Mehr. If there was ever a physical personification of physical comedy, it would be Dr. Pinch. Peyton plays the character wonderfully, and his crazy antics had me cackling the entire time. The cast even told me that all his antics change each show so if you want to see every interpretation of his work, you have to watch all of the shows.

Overall, this was a remarkable production that will help people understand the language of Shakespeare and also bring a lot of joy. If physical comedy isn’t your thing, I don’t know what your enjoyment level will be, but I truly loved this show and highly recommend, if you have the time, go watch this show. My score for the show would be at 4 and a half out of 5 stars, a 9 out of 10.