4 CLACKAMAS PRINT • MAY 27,2015
Comedy, where art thy errors
by Katie Archer
A beautiful city o f buildings, colorful
streets and in te re stin g m usic ta kin g
me back to a tim e I’ve never been. Oh,
by th e way:
W elcom e to Ephesus!
The Clackamas Com m unity College’s
th e a te r d e p a rtm e n t takes us back in
tim e w ith its spring play, "The Comedy
o f Errors” by W illiam Shakespeare.
I believe firs t im pressions are very
im p o rta n t and this all starts w ith th e
creation o f th e set. Can I actually be
lieve I’m in th e setting o f th e play? I
could easily believe I was in Ephesus
and really enjoyed looking a t the set.
The co m m o n m isco n ce p tio n w ith
Shakespeare is th a t he’s hard to un
derstand. If you chose to read the “The
Comedy o f Errors” before seeing th e
play, it m ost likely w ill be hard to un
derstand and you m ig h t n o t w a n t to
go any more. The good news is, it’s not
rocket science. If the actors play it right,
no one needs any back story to Shake
speare. Does some background know l
edge help? Sure, you’ll get more o u t of
it. However, good actors have already
done the background w ork fo r you.
I am fa m ilia r w ith som e o f Shake
speare’s w ork and how he writes, b u t
I’m n o t a n yw h ere close to b e in g a
Shakespeare fan girl. I knew very little
a bout “The Comedy o f Errors” before I
saw it. All I knew is th a t it was a bout
tw o sets of twins th a t everyone in Ephe
sus gets mixed up and it becomes very
comical.
E g e o n ’s lo n g m o n o lo g u e to th e
Ephesian Duke, Solinus, can be over
whelm ing and it sets up the play fo r all
th e mass confusion a b o u t to happen.
Did I g e t every w o rd th a t w as said
d u rin g th a t m o n o lo g u e ? Nope. Im
pressed th a t someone could memorize
all o f th a t? A bsolutely. Did I u n d e r
stand basics o f w h a t was happening?
Yes. The actors played it very w ell and
showed me how th e tw o sets o f tw ins
g o t separated and I’ll adm it it was fun
ny to watch.
It’s a classic Shakespeare recipe fo r
disaster, hysterics and confusion w ith a
dash o f romance. If you have been itch
ing to see a Shakespeare play, I w ould
highly recommend seeing “The Comedy
of Errors.” The CCC’s theater department
p u t on an Oscar-winning perform ance
so you sh o u ld n ’t have m uch tro u b le
follow ing along w ith the play.
Come to the Österman Theatre and
relax and enjoy the play. Don’t overthink
Shakespeare’s language. Watch the ac
tors. This play is sim ilar to w atching an
old cartoon or “The Three Stooges.”
Egeon, upper left, tells the Ephesian Duke, seated, how he, his wife and the twins got separated in “The Comedy of Errors,” still showing in the Osterman Theatre May 2 8 -3 1,7:3 0 Thursday-Saturday and 2:30 Sunday