Utah State Theatre combines slapstick and Shakespeare
For most people, there was a time when Cinnamon Toast Crunch, pajamas and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” made Saturday morning at 6 a.m. the greatest, most anticipated part of the week.
For some, that time was last Saturday.
Beginning 7:30 p.m. on April 14 -16 and continuing April 20 – 23, Utah State Theatre will work to recreate that “Saturday morning cartoon” feeling with a unique adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors.”
The humor of the production, which stage manager Bryce Allen estimated is 80 to 90 percent visual, is based on a 400-year-old tradition of Italian slapstick known as commedia dell’Arte.
“Many people my age grew up with Saturday morning cartoons; we got that form of entertainment from the theater,” Allen said. “[Commedia is] like watching five Charlie Chaplin’s on the stage all at once. It’s insane, it’s random and it’s not like anything you would expect.”
Director Artemis Preeshl, who has performed Shakespeare 20 times and directed nine of his plays, decided to do “Comedy of Errors” partly because she had never done it before, but also because of how readily it lends itself to the Italian comedic style.
“Once you see commedia you think, ‘that’s where the cartoons came from,’ and you look at [the play] and you say, ‘there’s Bugs Bunny'” Preeshl said. “One of the turns in commedia is the logical absurd, [where] you follow a thought process that is logical, but doesn’t necessarily make sense.”
Preeshl explained the logical absurd as a point where something is said and then, suddenly, everything associated with a given word comes into being and then just as suddenly leaves.
“It’s kind of like letting a genie out of the bottle, [letting it] back in and then continuing with the text,” he said.
Though the play has been rehearsed since late February, the play has been in production for several months with many people working to create just the right feel in the costumes and the set.
“In terms of the masks, in terms of the costumes, we’ve gone very much in a commedia style,” Preeshl said. “Occasionally there are some modern references in the costumes, but they’re pretty close to what would have been played. The set on the other hand really goes with the slapstick style of commedia.”
“The set looks like it came straight from Roger Rabbit,” Allen added.
Allen described one character’s costume as a cross between a whirling dervish, a Dementor from Harry Potter and Yoda.
Despite the emphasis on visual humor, the play will be performed completely in its original language as it was written 400 years ago. The verbal comedy is what inspires the physical comedy, Allen said.
“There are a few modern gestures, gags and references that somewhat update the play, though we have very much honored the setting,” Preeshl said. “The comedy often acts out lines in certain ways that makes it more accessible.”
Tickets cost $9 for adults, $7 for seniors and USU faculty, $6 for non-USU students and are available at the TSC and Spectrum ticket offices. USU students with valid IDs are admitted free.
“I see comedy as a way to cleanse the palate to allow for deeper meanings to occur, almost like having a little sorbet before your main course, and the comedy allows people to begin to contemplate the themes of the play which include mortality,” Preeshl said.
“I think the message of [the play] is, ‘yeah, things can go wrong and yeah, sometimes gets hard and life gets hectic, but hey, at the end things are still going to work out and it’s all going to be OK,'” Allen said.
Above all, however, he said the play is a break from studies and a chance to hang out with friends, have a good wholesome laugh and see something totally crazy.
“[Students] are so stressed out at the end of the semester,” Preeshl said. “The laughter that we hope to provoke and seem to be provoking will help them get better grades.”
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu