Shakespeare steals a chuckle with The Comedie of Errors
(left to right, top to bottom) Maria Enriquez (Adriana), Cathan Bordyn (Antipholis), David Mc Cormick (Dromio), and Kristina Detch (Luciana) in the ASU Herberger MainStage Theatre production The Comedie of Errors, March 30 - April 7, 2007.
Photo by Tim Trumble, courtesy Herberger College of the Arts
TEMPE, Ariz. – Shakespeare’s farcical best surfaces this spring in the ASU Herberger MainStage Theatre presentation of The Comedie of Errors. Seven performances run March 30 - April 7 at the Paul V. Galvin Playhouse on the ASU Tempe campus. A special 10 a.m. performance takes place April 3 for high school students from around the Valley.
The play’s setting is the eastern Mediterranean city of Ephesus, which in ancient times had a reputation for being a diverse port of lively merchants and travelers. This backdrop provides the right situation for the characters to become wittily entangled in the webs of their relationships. Audiences will chuckle at the antics of Master of Fine Arts performance students as they break the fourth wall and engage spectators with their wit.
“Comedy is certainly much more difficult to pull off than tragedy; it challenges the players to find the purest form of delight and presence,” says director Antonio Ocampo-Guzman, assistant professor in the ASU Herberger College School of Theatre and Film. “All of the students in the play have had training in Shakespearean text and aim to deliver the difficult language and ‘clowning’ with ease.”
Ocampo-Guzman has been a member of the renowned Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass. since 1993. He currently teaches and directs for School of Theatre and Film master’s performance students. Experience his vision for laughter and the rich language of Shakespeare in The Comedie of Errors.
The play contains bawdy Shakespearean humor and poetry. Tickets are $7-$22 and are available online at mainstage.asu.edu or through the Herberger College box office, 480.965.6447. Show times are 7:30 p.m., March 30-31 & April 4-7 and 2 p.m., April 1 at the Paul V. Galvin Playhouse in the Nelson Fine Arts Center, southeast corner of 10th Street and Mill Avenue. For additional information about attending the special April 3 performance for high school students, contact the School of Theatre and Film at 480.965.5337.
The Herberger College School of Theatre and Film provides a comprehensive range of courses in performance and directing; design and production; new work development; theatre and performance studies; film; and theatre for youth. Its Theatre for Youth program is nationally ranked in the top three and the creative writing/playwriting program is ranked 15th among public institutions by “U.S. News & World Report.” Learn more about the School of Theatre and Film at: theatre.asu.edu.