THE COMEDY OF ERRORS by William Shakespeare, directed by Kirsten Brandt, Santa Cruz Shakespeare

scenic design by Dipu Gupta, costumes by B. Modern, lighting my Kent Dorsey, Sound by Elton Bradman, Stage Manager Daniel Hanson

Cast: Jennifer Erdmann, Patty Gallagher, Mike Ryan, Tommy Gomez, Whitney Nelson, Chavez Ravine, Uche Elueze, Madeline Wall, Adrian Zamora

PRESS:

Director Kirsten Brandt’s staging of “Comedy of Errors” is gender-swapped except for just a few roles, a touch that makes the antiquated gender politics of the 16th-century comedy (based on an ancient Roman play) a lot more interesting. . . It’s a funny production of a funny play, - The Mercury News

The cast here, from Jennifer Erdmann and Patty Gallagher—both doing double duty as the separated twin sisters and their twin servants, respectively—to Mike Ryan, Madeline Wall, Uche Elueze and others in very funny supporting roles, recognize this as setup for some old-school physical comedy, and they go all out. I’m talking spontaneous dance parties, wet willies, slow-motion pro-wrestling moves, Three-Stooges-type eye pokes, and extended crotch-kick routines.. . If you’re thinking that sounds pretty lowbrow … well, yeah! This is Shakespeare comedy, baby! The only thing that’s really thought-provoking at all is that the decision to gender-swap the two sets of twins (all four characters are men in Shakespeare’s original) leads to an interesting queer-romance angle between Erdmann as the visiting Antiphola of Syracuse and Wall as Luciana, sister-in-law of Antiphola of Ephesus, where the action is set. The actors tease out some interesting lines in the dialogue that make this choice seem pretty natural. But again, I don’t think it even needs a rationale—it’s fun - Good Times