It's a Hot Day in Mill Valley: Curtain Theatre's Fresh Take on Comedy of Errors

March 28, 10:13 PMBay Area Theater ExaminerAmy Marie Boulanger

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It was sometime during my senior year of high school when it happened. After nearly four full years of the hair-tugging frustration and scrutiny over Shakespearean lines that appeared like an unbreakable code or foreign language - I got it! It was Richard III. It was a passionate and patient English teacher. It was the code, at last, unraveling and yielding the gorgeous possibilities of the English language. Though I was a story-lover, avid reader and writer in my childhood, Shakespeare had proved elusive and alien and overwhelming. Then the proverbial light-bulb popping, cartoon-like, over my head. I was beginning to understand Shakespeare! And like it.  

Since then, I have made a steady procession through the sonnets and plays, with, admittedly many more to go. A memorable experience for me was playing Hermia in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" in college, for the first time truly understanding the joys of entering Shakespeare’s magical world, the language enveloping itself around me with the same soft gossamer touch as the Grecian costumes I wore.

This is a long way of getting to the Curtain Theatre, but the background is here to hopefully illustrate the beauty of companies like this, located in Mill Valley. Committed to providing free, live, summer theatre, the Curtain holds dear all the magical elements of theater to me, and to many others: love for great, classical drama, the spirit of community, both audience and artists, joined in an intimate, tree-ringed setting to share in a theatrical experience.

Board member, actor, and writer Vicki Siegel took the time to explain the theater’s upcoming project, “A Hot Day in Ephesus” adapted from Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors.” Her musical adaptation of the comic tale of twins and mistaken identity draws inspiration from Rodgers and Hart’s "The Boys from Syracuse," produced in 1938, the first musical based on a Shakespeare play. In fact, Ephesus is part of a long lineage of adaptations: Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors was inspired by Roman playwright Plautus’ "Menaechmi;" these in turn led to The Boys from Syracuse. Similarly the 1960s farce "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" pulled inspiration from another Plautus play, about the slave Pseudolus. Leading at long last to Siegel’s Ephesus. In the style of Forum, this newest adaptation attempts to maintain the comic plot while fleshing out the characters more fully through songs that express their own points of view.

“Not out-of-the-blue songs,” Siegel emphasized, rather songs “that are more about the character's feelings at the moment.” Without altering much of the plot, Siegel began her project by first writing some songs. She wanted songs that “let the characters tell what they’re going through” rather than '30s revue style songs for the songs’ sake.

About ten years ago, Siegel took her son and his friends to see "Comedy" in San Francisco. Something light and fun for the kids. The production turned out to be dark, and needless to say, not so very entertaining for the little ones. But it’s a “funny show! All ages should be able to relate to it,” she said. That’s when she got the idea, blossoming after a particularly dour production, to write songs. To make something accessible to kids and families.

The Curtain Theatre will be home to this innovative adaptation, which is set to open around Labor Day. Held for two weekends in Old Mill Park, all performances are free of charge.

For anyone unfamiliar with "The Comedy of Errors," and even for those who may be but still might require a little brush-up (it is kind of confusing, isn't it?), it is a tangled tale of mistaken identity replete with Roman stock characters. For a more in-depth detailing, read a summary of the plot.

Send email to: curtaintheatre@yahoo.com

*Photo Courtesy of Vicki Siegel, Set Design for "Ephesus" by Steve Coleman

Curtain Theatre website

Curtain Article by Don Clark
 

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