By Charlotte K. Jarmy

Theater review

Congratulations to Los Altos’ Bus Barn Stage Company for bringing Shakespeare’s “Comedy Of Errors” to the sun-dappled lawns of Shoup Park.

A relaxed and appreciative audience, numbering about 200, sat on blankets, beach chairs and folding chairs laughing heartily at a recent showing of a wild and western farce used as a more modern version of the company’s production.

The actors played their broad comedy with the necessary exaggeration of manner and voice so that those unfamiliar with the original understood and enjoyed the antics so close to the assembled audience.

Like many of Shakespeare’s comedies, the plot centers on mistaken identity and the problems this causes. Two identical twins with their identical servants had been separated at birth and all four confuse the wife of one twin (Antipholus of Ephesus), the noble Duke of Ephesus and the lovely Luciana, wooed by the unmarried twin (Antipholus of Syracuse).

The twin servants, also dressed alike, used the broadest physical comedy of all. Dromio of Syracuse brought the greatest audience reaction as he scurried around, got dumped in a barrel of water and added to the mix-up by making errors that caused his master to be arrested.

He and the grouchy wife, called “a fond fool” by Shakespeare, deserve a special round of applause.

The father of both Antipholuses was the narrator describing how his family became separated in a storm at sea thirty years before. His was the only non-comic part of the play, and he gave it proper solemnity.

Adding to the fun was the Western cowboy dress of the twins and signs around the very informal set saying “Root Beer - 5 cents,” “Tiger Cafe” and “Rio Grande.”

There were other mistakes that piled up on the brothers, but again, despite the change in the setting, the language was mostly Shakespeare’s except for humorous puns that drew hoots from the delighted audience. Even the many toddlers who wandered around were respectful.

So much of the play was visual that it didn’t matter if a few lines were lost in the breeze. Like most farce, all the mistakes were cleared up at the end and celebrations became the order of the day.