A Review of Root Ginger’s Comedy of Errors

There is usually one part of a production that stands out more than any other and in the case of Root Ginger’s The Comedy of Errors it was, for better or worse, the freestanding green door which was particularly memorable. To walk into The Michael Pilch Studio to the sight of a door in the middle of the stage was undeniably strange, but thankfully said door did not stand ignored for the course of the show, rather being utilised to indicate the different locations through little signs stuck to the wood and movement around the space. While this was a clever and simple technique, one hopes that it wasn’t heavy for the sake of the poor stage management… and perhaps also that no one was concussed due to cues being off!

As for the production beyond said door, it was performed in thrust with the actors making good use of the four entrances alongside the frequent use of the door. There was some awareness of the entire audience; however, the actors were mainly playing to the end on audience… or perhaps merely to the director who sat in the back row laughing the loudest at the jokes and skits. This suggests that the entire play lived up to the expectations of Miles Robson; a directorial vision fulfilled. While it was humour leaning towards the slapstick that made up much of the performance, the opening scene leaned more towards physical theatre in a striking depiction of Warwick Wagner’s Egeon’s story up until this point in the narrative. The scene, of course, introduced the main concept of the story but also Elliot Possnett’s eye rolling officer, whose endurance of the whole situation was quietly entertaining.

The entire performance leaned towards the fun side of theatre, the actors accepting the unserious nature of the show that they were doing, and allowing themselves at times to descend into corpsing, particularly when things on stage became chaotic or lines were forgotten. This sense of fun seeped into the costumes, which were an interesting array of duck print ties, private’s uniform and slightly grizzled eighteenth century. While I couldn’t have told you the period or theme, they were consistently interesting and unusual. In keeping with the interesting and unusual were the crazily dancing coloured lights that seemed to spend as much of their time pointed at the audience as they did the actors. At times this gave the impression of a simulated club during the scene changes. Ultimately, there are two types of student theatre, the sort that seeks to be the most professional possible and that which tries to entertain while the cast and crew have fun, treating putting on a show as a well deserved break from the stress of the Oxford pressures. With finalists at the helm, this play was very much the latter, the cast and crew seeming to have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Sometimes it is a refreshing change to know that there are shows in OUDS who don’t take themselves remotely seriously.

Image Courtesy of Root Ginger Productions