As Shakespeare wrote it, there are 16 characters in his wacky, mistaken-identities “The Comedy of Errors.”
In The Acting Company’s national touring production currently at American Conservatory Theater, nine intrepid actors play all the roles.
Playwright Christina Anderson wrote this modern-English “translation” of the play according to the precepts of Play On Shakespeare. As explained in the program, Play On’s mission is not just to make the language more accessible for contemporary audiences but to carry forward the very experience that audiences had 400 years ago.
But for the most part, this brisk, 90-minute production works so well not specifically due to the modern-verse translation, which adheres largely to the rhythm of the text as well as to most of the language, with the occasional anachronism, or perhaps an ad-lib, thrown in (“Get lost, applesauce,” says one of the Dromios).
The actors, most also appearing in rep and equally brilliantly on this same stage in August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running,” are what make the show.
In Shakespeare’s most unbelievable comedy, set in Ephesus, an old man from Syracuse arrives seeking his identical twin sons, lost to him in a shipwreck. As it happens, one of the twins is also in Ephesus at the moment; he too is seeking the other half of his family. Both twins are named Antipholous; both have equally identical servants named Dromio.
The two Dromios, played by J’Laney Allen and Chuckie Benson, are the stars of this show. Audiences dare not take their eyes off either one for a second, for fear of missing their astonishing physical feats.
The ensuing shenanigans are perhaps slightly harder to follow than in a longer, more traditional version of the play with a larger cast and a proper set. Yet the performance, on the same set as “Two Trains Running,” somehow works.
This production is so antic, so inventive, it’s OK to give up following the plot in favor of just sitting back and letting the magic of these actors, as directed brilliantly by Devin Brain, wash over you.
Their wild physicality is especially hilarious in the ersatz sword fights and fisticuffs.
Then there’s the rapidity with which they switch costumes onstage: hats, wigs, entire outfits, accessories, the works. The costumes by Sarita Fellows are a hilarious mix of plaids and checks and patterns; eye-popping colors like fuchsia, lime and bright orange; and the occasional enormous Afro wig.
And the women play men, and vice versa.
The first time two actors suddenly trade actual roles before our eyes—and when one actor plays three (or was it four?) roles simultaneously, a literal hat trick—you simply must give in to helpless laughter.
Between scenes, the merry TV-sitcom-style music (sound design by Lindsay Jones) makes for seamless transitions.
A special shoutout to Michael A. Sheppard, hilarious as a towering, malevolent-looking abbess in the play’s final scene of happy recognition among all the confused and confusing characters.
The Acting Company’s “The Comedy of Errors” continues in repertory with “Two Trains Running” through May 4, 2025 at American Conservatory Theater’s Toni Rembe Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. Tickets are $29 to $134 at act-sf.org.
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