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Comedy of Errors

by Thomas Hull


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About Book

From Library Journal
These are the first two titles in Penguin's newly revamped "Pelican Shakespeare" series. The Pelicans have been the leading editions for many years, but the publisher realized that much new scholarship on the plays has been unearthed since the series was introduced. Eight Shakespeare scholars were hired to produce new, more accurate texts plus introductions and textual notes. The good stuff just gets better with age.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
This production performed by the Shakespeare Recording Society (with special guests)--is excellent in its arena-like recording quality. Stereo potential is used to its fullest--one character speaks on your left, and another seems to respond from somewhere on the far right. You get the sense that you're actually in a theater. The technique works especially well in this play because of its many street scenes and tricky character switches. For example, many times the only way listeners can hear the difference between Dromio of Ephesus (played by Bernard Bresslaw) and Dromio of Syracuse (Harry H. Corbett) is the very slight alteration in the depth of the recording. Of course, an expert in vocal patterns might be able to discern Bresslaw's voice from Corbett's, but, given their fantastic, churlish cockney--and the fact that they're trying to sound alike--it's not as easy for the rest of us. R.A.P. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Book Description

We came into the world like brother and brother; And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another. - Dromio of Ephesus

The Comedy of Errors is likely the very first play Shakespeare ever wrote, and for that reason alone it deserves a special place in literary history. Yet, despite the author's lack of maturity, the play is unmistakably the work of a burgeoning master. A farce of a type that was wildly popular in Shakespeare's day, The Comedy of Errors transcends its genre, and is as accessible and as entertaining as any of the Bard's later comedies. Revolving around the naturally comedic themes of identical twins and mistaken identity, The Comedy of Errors is a delightful milestone in the remarkable career of the greatest dramatist of all time.

The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
A five-act comedy by William Shakespeare, first performed in 1592-93 and first published in the First Folio of 1623. The play, Shakespeare's shortest, was based on Menaechmi by Plautus. Aegeon, a merchant of Syracuse, is arrested in Ephesus and, unable to pay the local ransom, is condemned to death. He tells the duke, Solinus, his sad tale: years earlier he and his wife had been shipwrecked with their infant sons, identical twins, and a pair of infant slaves, also identical twins. The parents, each with a son and a slave, were rescued but then permanently separated. Antipholus of Syracuse, the son raised by Aegeon, has for five years been seeking his mother and brother, and Aegeon has been seeking him. Aegeon's story wins from Solinus a day's respite to raise the ransom money. Meanwhile, Antipholus of Syracuse and his slave Dromio have arrived in Ephesus, not knowing that his brother Antipholus of Ephesus and his brother's slave, also named Dromio, are already there. A series of misidentifications ensues. Antipholus of Syracuse is entertained by his brother's wife and woos her sister; he receives a gold chain meant for his brother and is chased by a goldsmith for nonpayment. He and his slave hide in a priory, where they observe Aegeon on his way to execution and recognize the priory's abbess as their mother Aemilia. The two separated families are reunited, and Antipholus of Ephesus pays his father's ransom.

Card catalog description
An edition of Shakespeare's comedy, including discussion of its production, language, plot, and author.

From the Publisher
Hilarious fun, this early comedy is filled with the merry violence of slapstick and farce. When two sets of twins, separated and apparently lost to each other, all end up in the rowdy, rollicking city of Ephesus, the stage is set for mix-ups, mayhem, and mistaken identity--plus the timeless puns, jokes, gags, and suspense that makes this play a wonderful theatrical frolic and a brilliant tour de force of language and laughter.

Inside Flap Copy
Hilarious fun, this early comedy is filled with the merry violence of slapstick and farce.  When two sets of twins, separated and apparently lost to each other, all end up in the rowdy, rollicking city of Ephesus, the stage is set for mix-ups, mayhem, and mistaken identity--plus the timeless puns, jokes, gags, and suspense that makes this play a wonderful theatrical frolic and a brilliant tour de force of language and laughter.

About the Author
William Shakespeare lived between 1552-1616, but his work endures and is enjoyed the world over.

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