In preparing for this review I thought I’d read former reviews from the broadsheets and have been left agog. Here are a couple of links to the Independent’s review and Times On line review of The Comedy of Errors at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article7090636.ece
In her review dated the 8th of April Lynne Walker from The Independent states,
”The problem lies more in the fact that, in trying to reflect the multi-cultural society of the Turkish trading port, Silbert has assembled a multi-national company in which a melting pot of accents makes it difficult to pick up enough words.”
I’m sorry Lynne but the words ‘ear’ and ‘trumpet’ come to mind either that or a good de waxing. She also goes on to state,
”Even in the hands of the experienced Fred Ridgeway as Egeon, it’s not always easy to follow the solemn tale of his sad quest. The words of those in several smaller roles, all deftly acted, are even harder to decipher. Bold though Silbert has been in her concept and casting, the focus surely has to be on the coherency and lucidity of the language.”
I can but disagree to me the actors were quite proficient in speaking the iambic pentameter and the only diverse cultural background I could see were perhaps a Turkish actor, a black British actress, an Asian British actor, a Welsh actor who plays one of the twins and an Irish actress. Surely this is just a cross section of the Britain we live in today. As far as I could hear there were no problems with their delivery of speech as most of the actors, although being from a diverse background, were as far as I could hear from a British upbringing. Lynne I’m sorry you should be ashamed of yourself.
Jeremy Kington’s review for Times Online is also a little hard to comprehend and seems to dwell more on the merits of the play and it’s lack of characterisation than the actual production itself. Two words, Lazy journalism.
In my opinion the play was cleverly imagined with an intelligent cutting of the text to a healthy one and a half hours. Roxanna Silbert’s production presented us with a bare, white stage in a freshly minimalist presentation. The stage, in a simple round design subtley rose to a crescendo towards the end of the performance.
The play did have a multi cultural feel probably precipitated from the diverse cultures within the cast. For me this only added to the play and concentrated our minds to the cosmopolitan port the play was set in. The music also gave us a subtle feel of diversity with its Moroccan/ Turkish undertones.
In my opinion the play deserved a four out of five with a couple of minor quibbles disallowing a five. The comedy was good, the production was well conceived and the only bad delivery I could fathom were the reviews from The Independent and Times Online, which shows you can’t believe all you read in the papers.
Letters from Brittanica 
