2018 - The Comedy of Errors

16 February - 3 March 2018
Reading Carpark, Wellington

The Comedy of Errors, a fast-paced farce of arriving in a new town, looking for food, family, and home.

Many years ago, Egeon fathered a pair of identical twins, both named Antipholus. Each Antipholus was given a servant, Dromio and his identical twin Dromio and thus the family was whole. Until one day a mighty storm separated one Antipholus and Dromio from the other Antipholus and Dromio. Ever since the twins are split in two, are incomplete, unwhole.

I to the world am like a drop of water

That in the ocean seeks another drop

(Antipholus of Syracuse, Act 1 Scene 2)

Our story takes place on a single day in Ephesus, a buzzing harbour town not unlike Wellington. Two strangers have come to town, Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse, but as they journey further through the city it becomes more and more strange. People seem to know them too well, and they start to question how well they know themselves…

Director’s Note

The Comedy of Errors is a play about forging a family and finding home. It is an action-packed adventure through a city that is both welcoming and terrifying, domestic and miraculous. As such we are taking Summer Shakespeare right into the central city of Wellington.

This play is a delightful comedy through and through, yet at the heart of the play is family tragedy and the shock of not being recognised as yourself. It features hilarious set-pieces, witty wordplay and farcical mischief. Its roots in commedia dell'arte and Roman comedy are nodded to in this production, the first The Comedy of Errors in Wellington Summer Shakespeare’s canon.

Wellington is an incredibly welcoming city; you can make a home here and explore who you want to be in the world. Our city invites you to have adventures, to be anyone, to find yourself here. We invite you to join our Summer Shakespeare family for The Comedy of Errors.