The Dizzy Frenzy of ‘The Comedy of Errors’

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Photo Credit: Michelle Owczarski

A farce of mistaken identities sweeps through the Marcus Center’s Peck Pavilion as Optimist Theatre stages a pleasantly frenetic production of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. The free performance on an appealing pastel art deco set is accompanied by the sounds of passing traffic and the occasional clanging of bridge bells in the busy summer evening in the heart of Downtown. Katherine Norman and Libby Amato assertively navigate to the emotional center of the ensemble as a pair of sisters forced to deal with a husband and his unwitting twin. Norman is heroically vibrant as Adriana, the wife of one of the two men who seeks solace in the company of her sister Luciana. Amato brings nuanced comedy to the stage as Luciana, who is backed into an awkward corner by one of the twins.

Thorin Ketelsen is graced with many of the more deeply comic moments in the play as Antipholus of Syracusa. Ketelsen conjures a casually bewildered wit in the role of a man who is stranger to a town where everyone seems to think they know who he is. Rebekah Farr flexes shimmeringly deft comic instincts in the role of the itinerant Antipholus’ servant, Dromio. A pleasantly silly comedy is admirably weighted-down around the edges by James Pickering as the apparently doomed father of Antipholus and Robert Spencer as the Duke who will be forced to sentence him to death if he is unable to track down his son in time. It’s a dizzy, little frenzy of an outdoor show that ushers in July with whimsical classiness.

Through July 13 at the Marcus Center for the Arts’ Peck Pavilion, 929 N. Water St. Admission is free. For more information, visit optimisttheatre.org.