h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Comedy of Errors

Filmed at the old Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford in October 1976, this is a fast paced production with added songs and dances, directed by Trevor Nunn. It boasts a fine collection of stars including Judi Dench, Michael Williams, Francesca Annis, Mike Gwylym, Roger Rees and Nickolas Grace plus a young (and slightly thinner) Richard Griffiths and as a non speaking ‘townsfolk’, a very young and adorably pretty Cheri Lunghi four years before the ‘Twelfth Night’ at the Aldwych Theatre, London when I fell hopelessly in love with her.

Shakespeare got the basic plots from two Roman comedies by Plautus, which he combined to give two sets of twins and multiplied the confusion. The play tells of two sets of identical twins that were accidentally separated at birth. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. The resultant mistakings between brothers and servants and between the citizens of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse leads to total confusion.

There is much wordplay between the Syracusan master and servant which can be a little obscure, however by playing it flat out in the 1976 production, it works well for a modern audience. The intro drags a bit as a complex tale is told to set the scene but after that it just rocks. Judi Dench extracts every inch of humour from a part that doesn’t have any jokes in it but in her hands is very funny. Richard Griffiths is excellent as the Officer with few lines but a deal of stage time which he exploits to the full. Nickolas Grace as the Ephesian Dromio is very acrobatic in his dance routines and the late lamented Michael Williams is superb as his twin brother.

Throw in a lot of stage business and a Keystone Cops type chase back and forth across the stage involving the entire cast and it is a highly enjoyable show. The songs themselves are not of the highest order, none would ever make the hit parade, but they do well enough in the context of the story.

The theatre it was recorded in was the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. This had opened in 1932 as The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre on a site adjacent to the original Shakespeare Memorial Theatre which had opened in 1879 and been destroyed by fire in 1926. It was the traditional proscenium arch theatre and as such lacked the intimacy of the modern replacements. I watched some plays here in the 1990’s and for one of them ‘As You Like It’ was at the back of the upper circle 27 metres from the front of the stage, and probably over 30 metres from the actors. I could hardly recognise their faces let alone any expressions.

In 2007 it was decided to rebuild the theatre with a major transformation project. The Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres re opened in 2010. They were transformed into thrust stages with the actors surrounded on three sides by the audience. The furthest seat away from the action has now been reduced to 15 metres which leads to a much more involving experience, although you do have to be careful not to wear expensive clothing when sitting in the front rows for ‘Titus Andronicus’.

There is a theatre tour on offer, which gives a view of the backstage areas, costume departments, makeup, lighting and effects, which is good fun. I had hoped I might be able to get up on stage and do a quick Hamlet soliloquy but ‘To be…’ was not to be. I was not downhearted though because I discovered that during the transformation the original 1932 stage planking had been re-laid in the ground floor foyer, so I could (silently, so as not to frighten anyone) do my Seven Ages speech on the actual boards trodden by all the greats of the past, Olivier, Geilgud, Burton, Frankie Howerd…..

One of the anecdotes I heard on the tour (so it must be true, stop laughing at the back..) was that when the original theatre burned down in 1926 an actor whose name I forget had written to the Stratford upon Avon town council congratulating them on its demise. George Bernard Shaw went so far as to call the structure "an admirable building, adaptable to every purpose except that of a theatre." The new theatres are superb venues, to have poor Lavinia die no more than two feet away from you really is incredibly moving.

And as for the experience of seeing Candide zipping above your head as he flies away on a sheep, lifted by balloons and propelled by flatulence; high brow dramatic entertainment doesn’t get much higher.

Deb

[Amy P]

Take a bow

[[[ ll ]]] Another admirable journal. But I'm not familiar with the performance and can't think of a particular response. I blame 2legs.