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The company of The Comedy of Errors
(Photo: Peter Cooper)
The Comedy of Errors
By Deirdre Donovan
The Mobile Unit’s bilingual
musical adaptation of The Comedy of Errors has been taken out of
mothballs from last summer’s staging and is traveling to the city’s parks
throughout the five boroughs. Directed and choreographed by Rebecca Martínez, this
tale of separation and reunion is as rib-tickling as ever.
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Gían Pérez, Michael Castillejos, and Joél
Acosta (Photo: Peter Cooper)
On the steamy Tuesday evening I attended a
performance, the Mobile Unit’s touring troupe had pitched camp at Sunset Park,
Brooklyn. The show began at 6:30 p.m., with enough daylight still remaining to
see panoramic views of New York harbor and the Manhattan skyline from the
park’s lawn.
The play began with the company parading over
the lawn, dressed in colorful attire (costumes by Lux Haac) and beating buckets
and pans to announce their arrival. When they finally stepped onto the stage, they
paused beating on their makeshift instruments, and a performer intoned: ”Our
story starts now!”
![](Comedy-of-Errors-DD-3_files/image003.png)
Joél Acosta (Photo: Peter Cooper)
The company didn’t disappoint! The
wonderfully absurd tale of the two sets of identical twins separated at birth in
a shipwreck and reunited years later is as entertaining as ever. Acosta
performed both of the Antipholuses and Gían Pérez performed both of the
Dromios. Of course, what really steals the show is their hat trick. With a
sleight-of-hand, and a 180-degree turn, both Acosta and Pérez shift from being
Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse to their Ephesus counterparts by changing this
hat to that hat, and then that hat to this hat.
This Comedy of Errors is
family-friendly. The audience’s age range seemed to be from 4 to 94. Those who
came early to the performance were in luck too, as the Mobile Unit staff
members were distributing some Shakespeare-themed freebies, including Comedy
of Errors crossword puzzles, hand-held fans replete with information on the
revitalization of the Delacorte Theater, and a Shakespeare in the Park coloring
sheet with mini-crayons for the small fry.
No question that, for this year’s production,
the Mobile Unit’s improved sound and light design, not to mention its
newly-raised stage, is a plus. Although the rug that was used for past
productions was convenient, the portable stage affords better sightlines.
Aside from the thrill of watching
a free Shakespeare performance with salsa rhythms, what made this performance
truly singular was its al fresco setting at the aptly-named Sunset Park. For,
as the audience watched this 90-minute show, the sun sinking down on the
horizon bathed everybody in a warm golden light.
Suffice it to say, that this musicalized play
about separation, reunion, and a lot of mistaken identities, eventually rights
itself (It is a comedy, after all!). But theatergoers who want to discover the
particulars of how it all miraculously resolves will have to reserve a seat at
an upcoming performance of the Mobile Unit’s Comedy of Errors.
Indeed, The Mobile Unit’s The Comedy of
Errors will wrap up its five-borough tour on June 30, having performed a
total of 38 performances in outdoor spaces throughout New York.
And, by the bye, The Mobile Unit is the
direct descendant of Joseph Papp’s original “Mobile Unit,” launched in 1957,
which evolved into the New York Shakespeare Festival and ultimately The Public
Theater. Its mission has ever been to break through the barriers that prevent
people from enjoying the healing powers of art and theater. Too bad Joseph Papp
isn’t alive today to see this latest iteration of The Comedy of Errors.
The
Comedy of Errors
Through
June 30
For
more information, visit https://publictheater.org
Running
time: 90 minutes with no intermission.