12:07pm Thursday 29th November 2007
The Royal Shakespeare Company's opening night of The Comedy of Errors on Tuesday night was a fast-paced and faultless performance of one of the Bard's most accessible plays.
The story follows two sets of identical twins who encounter a series of mishaps and mistaken identities when they end up in the same town unbeknownst to each other.
It is a short and farcical play that lends itself very well to slapstick - a notoriously difficult theatrical technique to pull off.
The cast of this production have their timing down to perfection and the vivid characterisation of almost every actor on stage only serves to increase the hilarity.
The set and costume designs have an air of Glastonbury's The Lost Vagueness to them and make you feel like you are watching a circus sideshow at points.
Throughout the performance, the stage was often full of minor characters in comical poses or amusing activities running alongside the main action.
But the comedy managed to avoid making the play seem superficial and the fact that the two main characters, Jason and Simon Merrells, were real brothers as well as on-stage brothers was a touching element.
It is the two Dromios, Chris New and Iain McKee, who are the real stars of the show though and they clearly relish the chance to camp up their performances.
There were some innovative techniques used such as puppetry, an on-stage musical ensemble that provided some great sound effects and the creative use of props.
The pace and timing of this production take the audience on a whirlwind tour of some of Shakespeare's funniest verse and this has to be one of the best plays on at Bath's Theatre Royal in recent months.
Charley Morgan
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