Today’s Date: July 16

 

Show Titles: Troilus and Cressida The Comedy of Errors

Directors: Mili Konceliik & Natasia Reinhardt

Assistant Directors: Marielle Buxbaum, Austen Bell & Scarlet Frishman, Sam Grocock

Stage Manager: Amy Hartt & Isabella Pizzitola

Dramaturg: A H. Poma & Naomi Stephenson

 

Yesterday we had a full festival dress rehearsal, meaning we were all in the playhouse together running how this coming Sunday will for all of us. This meant that the other cast was joyfully able to watch the other cast’s show. It started with Lia’s speech, the full camp song, then moving onto to Troilus and Cressida’s run which will be reviewed by the DramaturgyIntern for Comedy of Errors Naomi!

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA:

Troilus and Cressida is one of the Shakespeare plays I am least familiar with, so I was delighted to get a chance to see the campers’ take on it. The play opened with a clever adaptation of Homesick by Noah Kahan. The period costuming immediately took me to the world of the Trojan war.

The play opens closer to comedy, with a sweet romance plot that was beautifully acted by John as Troilus and Olivia Rose as Cressida. Their scenes were buoyed by a brilliant comedic performance from Pax as Pandarus.

Meanwhile, in the war plot, the Greeks are frustrated that Achilles (played by Phoenix) will not go to the field and fight. Bee’s scheming Ulysses bounced perfectly off of Audri’s commanding Agamemnon. At the same time, the Trojans are arguing over whether it’s worth fighting for Helen. I loved how Willow’s charismatic and powerful Hector bounced off of Zephyr’s snobby yet romantic Paris.

As Troilus and Cressida formalize their union, Hector sends a challenge to the Greeks, which is answered by Ajax. This was the first chance for the cast to show off their excellent stage combat skills. The audience was also treated to some excellent comedy from Hattie’s Thersites.

All seems to be going smoothly until the play veers into tragedy. Cressida is sent back to the Greek camp with Diomed. After exchanging tokens and a heartwrenching farewell with Troilus, she leaves for the Greeks. The scene where Cressida is “welcomed” to the Greek camp by being kissed by nearly every Greek soldier is suitably chilling and uncomfortable.

The play returns to familiar Iliad territory with the death of Patroclus and the return of Achilles to the battlefield. Hector’s family (including Max as a beautifully unsettling Cassandra) warn him not to fight, but he goes

anyway in the name of honor. At the end of the battle, as Hector rests, unarmed, he is ambushed by Achilles. This was my absolute favorite moment of the entire production. I won’t spoil the details, as it is best experienced without knowing what’s coming.

Overall, I was absolutely enraptured by this production. Milli’s direction is phenomenal, while every cast member gives their all. Troilus and Cressida is a complex play that demands comedic and dramatic skills in equal measure, as well as a willingness to grapple with tough subject matter. I can’t wait to see it again on Sunday!

 

After the run finished and all the campers rejoiced by running onstage to celebrate their excellent work we went into our run of Comedy of Errors which is here reviewed by Poma, the Dramaturgy Intern for Troilus and Cressida.

 

COMEDY OF ERRORS:

The Comedy of Errors is an insane and extremely silly play. Natasia and all of her campers set the expectation for an amusing hour instantly by opening with “Hey Brother” by Avicii featuring a Kazoo twin quartet. Everyone is lavishly costumed with crosses adorning many and generally feeling very Italian, most notably the Antipholuses (Antipholopodes?), who were in full Mob Boss attire. Immediately after the song, Ellie as Egeon begins with an enticing speech summarizing the twin’s birth, separation, and eventual fate which is acted out in mirth through tableaus from the rest of the cast with Annabelle as the symbolic father Egeon. They come together to create a picture of a sailing ship, and then upon its destruction, Elodie gets a recorder solo playing the Titanic song.

Jumping into the play’s major action, Alan features as the dense and constantly confused Antipholus while Allison features as his servant Dromio, serving masterful takes consistently. Then, we meet James’s Dromio who possesses a massive walk and the exact same haircut that left me genuinely confused about who was who at some moments. Amongst these moments of memory errors and Alan’s anger, slow-motion combat is had between Alan’s Antipholus and whichever Dromio was unfortunate enough to be there for the error.

When we meet Adriana, played by the one and only Sophie, we are given a greatly over-dramatic rendition complete with a Disney princess pose upon every entrance and exit. Adrianna’s bestie, one who supports her posing tendencies, is the lovely Luciana played by Gal. Luciana was wooed by Alan’s Antipholus whom Adriana believed to be her husband (that’s supposed to be Sanchez’s brutal Antipholus).

For the miscellaneous errors throughout the play: First, there is Chiara’s Angelo who made a chain for Antipholus of Sanchez to give to his current wife Adriana. Then, the small but mighty Jules is a cheated merchant who wields an overly large pasta noodle to attack the towering Antipholus of Alan. An innocent Jailer played by Elodie gets confused too when being commanded who to jail. Adriana believes that Antipholus and Dromio are possessed, so she calls upon Dr. Pinch who looks and walks like a tall Edna Mode, beautifully portrayed by Wren. Olivia is the courtesan, the one whom Adriana belives that Antipholus is cheating on her with.

Act 5 ensures that everything crashes down on top of the Antipholi’s heads so that the ruthlessly frustrated Antipholus, played by Sanchez, meets Alan’s Antipholus, and the genuine near twins of the Dromios all meet in a Spiderman meme reference encounter. Despite the errors being (somewhat) flattened out by Ellie’s strange Syracusian Egeon and the mother of the Antipholi Emilia played by Emily, there was still one final moment of confusion between both sets of twins.

Overall the play was hilarious, the campers’ creativity shone luminously alongside Natasia’s direction. I had never watched this show before, so I was minorly confused, but accurately so. Everyone on stage was confused and I was right alongside them but I could laugh at all of the mishaps and confusion over who was who and which brother is which brother. When you see it, be prepared for a confused day of Errors, laughs, and confusion.