The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, written between 1591 and 1594, and one of his funniest. Cecil Pickett, admired throughout America for his brilliant staging of the plays of Shakespeare and Moliere, has given this adaptation a modern flavor through costumes, background music, and allusions to modern commedians.

A platform, a couple of tables, and a few stools are the only required scenery in this modern commedia approach to Shakespeare's play about mistaken identity. All the characters except the Antipholi and the Dromios are played by the troupe of strolling players...to a rock music background in Cecil Pickett's exciting staging as detailed in the playbooks.

The play is about twins, both named Antipholus, who have twin servants, both named Dromio. After a shipwreck, the twins are separated, with one Antipholus and Dromio reaching Ephesus and the other pair returning to Syracuse. Twenty years later they all arrive in the same city, with hilarious confusion.

Mr. Pickett suggests that the production should have the flavor of a Marx Brothers movie, full of energy, brisk tempo, and zany business. "It should be electric but never silly or artsy," he advises. With this approach he mounted acclaimed productions for the University of Houston and the Houston Shakespeare Festival.

One-act; place, a land not many leagues from here; time, not long ago; costumes, a timeless modern dress is suggested for the entire cast.

Also by Pickett: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night

Additional Shakespeare: As You Like It, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew

See also: Makbeth, Mossy Cape, Shakespeare Unbound, William's Window

Other plays with Commedia Dell'Arte flavor: Fables; Happily Ever After; Of Winners, Losers, and Games; Pinocchio Commedia; Professor Zuccini's Traveling Tales