Review: A Comedy of Errors, Faversham's Belmont House, Friday, July 29

by Keith Hunt

Attending an open air performance of a Shakespeare play can be a hit and miss affair. One I saw recently was a miserable miss, the only star turns coming from the resident ducks mingling with the audience.

There were no such calamities, however, with the Changeling Theatre's touring production of A Comedy of Errors when I caught it at 18th century Belmont House, near Faversham.

On a dry, crisp summer's evening, the enchanting walled gardens echoed to roaring laughter as a tip-top band of actors put their own hilarious stamp on one of the Bard's earliest, least performed and least quoted works.

Directed by Rob Forknall, the plot is worthy of a Whitehall farce, although there is no trouser dropping in Shakespeare's masterpieces. It is another of those mistaken identity tales he seemed to delight and excel in.

The action is set "somewhere near Morocco" and revolves around two separated twin brothers (Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse) and their two identical twin servants (Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse) who find themselves being mistaken for the other.

Changeling give the conundrum a twist by Jake Hendricks, of Hollyoaks fame, playing both Antipholus characters and Leander Deeny playing both Dromios. The pair proved to be a side-splitting tour de force.

Lanky Hendricks seemed to delight in bullying Deeny with much ear-flicking. Deeny responded with flailing arms and Pythonesque histrionics, not to mention shameless ad libs.

The cast involved the picnicking audience. At one point Adriana, played with saucy abandon by Lucy Thatcher, commented on the size of one man's hamper after sitting on his lap and drinking his wine.

It all went hysterically haywire as a clock struck 8pm, drowning out the dialogue, and the actors corpsed. Amazingly, they regained their composure and seamlessly returned to the plot. We even had Hendricks quoting: "Dromio, Dromio - wherefore art thou Dromio."

None of the actors were found wanting in this gem of a performance, so it is only right to also praise Rachael Nassbaum (Luciana/Courtesan), David Corden (Egeon/Balthazar), Vivian Keene (Abess/Pinch/Nell/Luce), who appeared in the lauded Larkrise to Candleford, Henry Farmer (Duke/2nd Merchant) and Tom Oakley (Angelo/1st Merchant).

Mix in a few songs to the accompaniment of guitar and flute and a great evening's entertainment was complete.

Comedy of Errors has been playing at some of Kent's most picturesque venues since the end of June and ends the summer run at Boughton Monchelsea Place on Sunday August 7.