Going to any production at The Globe is always more of an experience than it would be in most other theatres - although not necessarily always a positive one. I am a great believer in authenticity, but these days people are an awful lot taller than those in the sixteenth century, and a little more leg-room would be very welcome. However, when the evening is as enjoyable as it was watching Chris Luscombe's production of Comedy of Errors then physical discomfort can almost be forgotten.
      The evening got off to a slightly shaky start, as the first scene has so much exposition that one must pay attention immediately, and unfortunately Richard O'Callaghan's Egeon was rather difficult to hear. But it soon picked up, and continued at a rollicking pace throughout.
      It requires an enormous amount of suspension of disbelief to accept that while Antipholus of Syracuse has come to Ephesus looking for his twin, he never twigs that he is being mistaken for him. But in the end it doesn't matter. The cast in general are having a wonderful time and transmitting that feeling of joy to the audience.
      The use of musical effects for the blows dealt to the Dromios is fun and a lot of the comedy was inspired - perhaps occasionally to the play's detriment but it would be niggardly to complain. I'm often not a fan of broad comedy and there is no doubt that this is very broad indeed. But it works.
      There are obvious moments of expansive comedy in the text - most evident in Dromio's description of Nell, the maidservant. Having said she is 'spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her,' he goes on to make a series of vulgar puns. Andrew Havill, as the Syracusan Antipholus expands on this by having a plant in the audience suggesting a country which he reacts to by pretending to corpse. Nothing seems to give an audience more pleasure than seeing an actor lose concentration. Or appear to.
      Sarah Woodward as the 'spurned' Adriana is wonderful. There is one hilarious moment when she prostrates herself before the man she believes to be the Duke of Ephesus; then as soon as he speaks, realising her mistake, she swivels round to face her target. Her comic timing is, as always, spot-on but she is also very sexy. It was easier to believe in her relationship with Antipholus of Ephesus than her sister's with his twin.
      This is where the production fell down for me - by concentrating on the farce, Luscombe has sacrificed the gentler touches of the play. This is a shame. Laura Rees as Luciana, while elegant and graceful to look at, was not exactly gentle, and I didn't believe for one minute that Antipholus had fallen for her. Although at the very end there is some attempt towards a serious note, with the reunion of Egeon and his Abbess wife, this production is really a fun romp and not quite the moving comedy it could be.
      But on a summer's night with an audience full of delightfully screeching children and guffawing adults nobody can really complain. 
Francine Brody