The legendary theme of identical twins dates back to the Greek myth of Castor and Polluxbrothers of Helen of Troy, and extends to all times and places. Romulus and Remus, fabulous founders of Rome, were a carbon copy of each other. Nara and Naraiana, wise children of the god Dharma, characters of the Mahabharata, They are also indistinguishable from each other. The theatre has used the confusion of identities as a source of humor in works ranging from The two Menaechmus, from Plautus to the musical review What a pair of twins, Lina Morgan’s dazzling success at the Teatro de La Latina.
The comedy of errors, Shakespeare’s play, directed by Andrés Lima and performed at La Latina in Madrid, is an adaptation of Plautus’ work. The author of Hamlet He wrote it in 1594, a year before the English translation of The two Menaechmus: It is plausible that it was based on one of the versions composed by Spanish authors of the Golden Age (Timoneda, Montemayor, Lope de Rueda…), which were widely disseminated in the Europe of their time.
Lima’s production accentuates the farce, underlines it with caricature-like strokes, moves it along at a very good pace and peppers it with choreography: it seems vaguely inspired by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s musical version directed by Trevor Nunn in 1976, with Judi Dench, with which it bears no comparison. The RSC employed one actor for each character. The Spanish producers have reduced the cast to six male performers. “We have to play 25 characters!” complains one of them, sarcastically and metatheatrically.
Both Lima and Albert Boronat, the adapter, have arranged for the characters to frequently step out of the action, to comment on it among themselves or to ironize about the verbosity of the narrative monologues with which Shakespeare provides the audience with background information. There are so many cuts in the story and so many asides between the actors that the original farce sometimes becomes a farce. In both genres, Rulo Pardo moves like a fish in water, but Avelino Piedad is well-versed. He has a sharp comic streak, he glides like a gazelle and knows how to imprint his exact romantic character on the pieces of classical music he plays on the keyboard.
This show itself brings together the main characteristics of today’s Spanish theatre production, characterised by reduced casts and the choice of friendly works, but it is representative, above all, of the programming model of the Merida Festivalwhere it premiered. It is designed to please the public and in that respect it is a success. But the festival should be asked for productions with larger casts and not so focused on box office. In view of the new stage that begins next year, the Mérida Board of Trustees could also consider whether, instead of limiting the potential repertoire to works by Greco-Roman authors or those with Greco-Latin themes (written today on a forced basis), it would not be better to open the event to the performance of pieces from any period and on various themes, as long as they are in keeping with the architectural and heritage dimensions of the Roman theatre. Tragedies such as The Caucasian chalk circle, by Brecht, Life is a dream, of Calderon, or Macbeth, Shakespeare’s plays could be performed in this setting with the same aptness as Oedipus the King, and of course they would be much more appropriate than Jellyfish, for example.
The comedy of errors
Text: William Shakespeare. Direction: Andrés Lima. Madrid. Teatro La Latina. Until September 22. Upcoming cities on tour: Granada, Cádiz, Getxo, León, Miranda de Ebro, Segovia, Barcelona, Toledo and Valencia.
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