The Comedy of Errors (More or Less) - Prescot / Scarborough

I visited the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot for the first time yesterday to see the second preview of their new co-production, The Comedy of Errors (More or Less), with the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. 

In a similar vein to Pride and Prejudice (Sort Of), the show is a heavily adapted version of The Comedy of Errors, taking the names of the original characters and the thrust of the narrative but rewriting the story, shifting the timeframe to the 1980s, the location to Scarborough and adding some of the biggest hits of the decade.

The story has been adapted by Elizabeth Godber and Nick Lane. Having seen previous work from Elizabeth at the Edinburgh Fringe I had high expectations! I thought the adapting and updating of the script into modern verse worked really well, as did the framing device of the cast addressing the audience at the start and end of the play and at the outset of certain scenes. 

The play introduces us to the world of Antipholus and his assistant (a slave in the original), Dromio. While this Antipholus is preparing to perform in a talent contest in Scarborough that evening, he's blissfully unaware of the imminent arrival of an identical Antipholus and Dromio from Prescot! The latter Antipholus is visiting the town to perform a monologue play for which only two tickets have been sold.

The cast introduce themselves at the start and set the concept of putting on a play. After an opening song and a back story of how the Antipholus' had come to be separated, it's really the introduction of Adriana, the wife of the Scarborough Antipholus, and her sister, Luciana, where the show starts to really click into gear. An initial misunderstanding, where Adriana hears her husband has apparently denied he's married, proves the catalyst for a raft of further miscommunications. A rapid descent into chaos follows!

The character of Luciana has certainly been updated for a modern audience and she is now a strong-willed third-wave feminist. Ida Regan, who appeared in the ensemble of The Book Thief last year, is very much to the fore here as Luciana and is laugh-out-loud funny, with great comic timing. She has a great rapport with Alyce Liburd, who plays the seemingly slighted Adriana, and they make for a great double act. Each pair of Dromio and Antipholus characters are played by identical twins. Peter Kirkbride and David Kirkbride excel as Antipholus and capture the bewilderment and exasperation of their respective characters perfectly as the evening progresses. Oliver Mawdsley and Zach Mawdsley play the hapless Dromios to good comic effort, while the remainder of the nine-strong cast multi-role in a variety of parts, from a Look North reporter to a sham entertainer and local gangster.

The addition of the Eighties songs only elevates the feel-good mood in the auditorium. The show opens with the whole company singing Dream Academy's Life in a Northern Town. While still a play with songs rather than a musical, the musical numbers are more to the fore here than in Pride & Prejudice (Sort Of). The score includes Big Love by Fleetwood Mac, A Good Heart by Feargal Sharkey, Uptown Girl by Billy Joel, Here I Go Again by Whitesnake, Just Like Jesse James by Cher, Material Girl by Madonna, and Wouldn't It Be Good by Nik Kershaw. Alyce Liburd and Ida Regan's duet for Just Like Jesse James at the start of act two was the highlight for me.

The placement of the songs is reminiscent of & Juliet with laughter from the audience as they realise which song is about to be performed. The addition of Mickey by Toni Basil, at the start of the talent contest where the two Antipholus characters are finally set to come face-to-face, is particularly amusing. Alyce Liburd, Ida Regan and Valerie Antwi appear in cheerleader outfits and legwarmers but otherwise remain in character, with bewildered expressions as if to say "what on earth are we doing?!". The show finishes with a medley of Jump, I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Footloose, so Flashdance, Bodyguard and Footloose fans are well catered for! 

The final ten minutes before the encore is where things descend from the farcical to the frankly ridiculous! Signposted at the start of act 2, at the moment where the identical twins are all set to meet, one of each of the identical twins has to leave the theatre unexpectedly. It means that the final ten minutes play out with the multi-roling actors having to take on a twin each as well as their other parts. Much in the way that the humour of The Play That Goes Wrong comes from actors trying to carry on no matter what, this mines a similar path to where Sandra in the Play That Goes Wrong is being instructed to "come back here this instant" and "stop shouting" while she's lying passed out on the floor. Here we get the deadpan delivery of lines based on how identical the twins are when they now look absolutely nothing alike due to key company members being suddenly indisposed. The chaos is ramped up further as the actors decide they need a volunteer from the audience to step in. The willing audience member takes to the stage and is fitted up with a ventriloquist mask, straight from a Nina Conti show, while a toy lobster with someone's face stuck on it is assigned a role too! It's all complete madness by this point but it felt a missed opportunity not to give the audience member a script, just to ramp up the unpredictability of what could have happened next. 

Overall, this was a fantastic and joyful evening, the first of what will no doubt be many for me at this stunning new venue. Opening in Summer 2022, the Shakespeare North Playhouse is a brand new theatre in Prescot, around eight miles east of Liverpool. The venue, winner of Theatre Building of the Year at this year's The Stage Awards, includes a 470-seat timber-framed Shakespearean theatre, modelled on Inigo Jones’s cockpit-in-court design in 17th-century London. There's also a studio space, cafe and outdoor performance space. The Cockpit Theatre is certainly a special setting and can only enrich the cultural offerings in the North West. The staff and volunteers couldn't have been any warmer, friendlier or more welcoming.

With a running time touching three hours, The Comedy of Errors (More or Less) could do with a little trimming in its second act. I think the chaotic denouement maybe has one idea too many thrown at it at the moment but there's so much to enjoy here that most of the evening absolutely flew by. The talented cast are clearly having a blast, the script induces belly laughs throughout and the show throws in some of the biggest tunes and party anthems of the Eighties for good measure. While only a few of the audience got up to dance for the final medley, we were all on our feet when the cast took their bows. The full standing ovation was well deserved. 

The Comedy of Errors (More or Less) is four-and-a-half stars for me in its preview form with the undoubted potential to hit five. I can't wait to return towards the end of its run on Merseyside. The play runs in Prescot until 25 March and then transfers to Scarborough where it plays until 15 April. It certainly deserves a future life beyond that.