Propeller's Comedy of Errors (Tour – Salford)

The farcical and often crude Comedy of Errors is a natural choice for the all male company Propeller and they don’t disappoint with this hilarious performance.

Two sets of estranged twins, one couple called Antipholus and their servants both called Dromio, find themselves in the same city twenty-five years after being separated at birth. As always happens in Shakespeare this is not a situation with an easy solution. As the inhabitants of the island mistake the new arrivals with the Antipholus and Dromio that they have known for years, the confusion escalates.

Director Edward Hall turns the island of Ephesus into a package holiday destination full of Brits abroad. Michael Pavelka’s well-designed set is daubed with graffiti and lit with strings of coloured lights, while the cast play instruments dressed in football shirts and sombreros. It adds a slightly seedy twist to all the characters as well, so Angelo the Goldsmith is a wheeler dealer with an open necked gold shirt and Matthew Pearson’s courtesan is done up in a tight dress and bunny ears.

Both sets of twins, Dan Wheeler and Joseph Chance as the two Antipholus’ and the two Dromios Will Feathstone and Matthew Mcpherson, are excellent. One of the funniest moments is when Dromio of Syracuse (Featherstone) describes Nell the kitchen maid as a globe with both disgust and relish.

Propeller can sometimes add innuendo to text, but here Shakespeare has the crudity pretty well covered. By the time Featherstone talks about the ‘Netherlands’, the audience are in hysterics. The minor characters are just as strong as the main players; Richard Pepper’s officer, looking like he is straight out of the Village People, and Darrell Brockis’ conjurer Pinch, played like a revivalist preacher, both steal the show when they are on set.

Propeller’s Comedy of Errors is a riotous, colorful and often ridiculous show, that will have you in stitches.

Comedy of Errors is at the Lowry until 1 March.

– Joanna Ing