The Comedy of Errors (1979)

Review for Surrey Comet (April 1979)

The fresh and adventurous approach of the Youth Action Theatre carried through yet another ambitious production last week - The Comedy of Errors, with the music and songs used in the recent Royal Shakespeare Company version.

I have learned to judge anything the precocious young players at the Hampton Court Theatre do by high standards, but was still very surprised that they managed to make such a professional job of Shakespeare's mistaken identity romp.

Despite the fact that the twin brothers in the comic webb of confusion looked nothing like each other, except for costume, both Nik Harman and Jonathan King made a good partnership, helped a great deal by the two Dromios - Nigel Hadley and Philip Bliss - who contributed most of the humour and a vast amount of energy to the drama.

Of the ladies in the play (which was directed by Eric Yardley), Annabel Giles was supreme. Graceful, yet fiery when she needed to be, she was a model for the rest of the cast to follow, and was only equalled in stage presence by Stephen Bentley with a colourful Doctor Pinch.

One thing which was particularly clear in the first act was that the players are better actors than singers, although the second half songs were much better. The musicians did a fine job, with keyboards player Peter Roberts deserving several curtain calls.

Review for Richmond & Twickenham Times (April 1979)

Tackling a straight production of The Comedy of Errors would have been ambitious enough, but Youth Action Theatre made its task doubly difficult at Hampton Court [Theatre] this week by doing the musical version as performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Eric Yardley, who runs Youth Action [Theatre], seems determined to set his group ever more impossible goals with each new show.

As if the play itself isn't hard enough to interpret in a way that holds the audience's interest, the company also had to contend with some highly intricate musical numbers, most of which were beyond them.

One can hardly put all the blame on the poor musicians, who did their best, but the accampaniment is undoubtably too loud, making the lyrics quite inaudible at times.

The most effective numbers were Dromio's hymn of flagellation, He Beats Me, Dr Pinch's weird and wonderful Satan Come Forth (someone should tell Kate Bush about that one!) and the smashing finale number, Lets Go Hand in Hand, which the company obviously enjoyed as much as the audience.

On balance, I think the play is better for the musical interludes. It certainly helps to break up and enliven what is otherwise one of Shakespeare's less distinguished efforts.

The long-lost twins were played by Jonathan King (not that one) and Nick Harman, and the matching Dromios, looking like a pair of Leo Sayers, were Nigel Hadley and Philip Bliss. The latter is a natural comedian with more stage presence than most professionals.

Annabel Giles, as Adriana, is not only distractingly pretty, but she puts a lot of work into her acting, through she must guard against rushing her lines. Debbie Lane, as Luciana, paced her narrative a lot better.

One of the delights of the production is the appearance of YAT veteran, Stephen Bentley, as the sinister-looking fake exorcist, Dr Pinch, a character right up young Mr. Bentley's street.

Role	Name
The Watch	David Richmond
Egeon, a merchant of Syracuse	Oliver Cookson
Solinus, Duke of Ephesus	Simon Rudge
Solinus's Lady	Emma McCarthy (Hitching)
Solinus's Officer	Robert Eadie
Solinus's Guard	David Gray
	David Ripley
Antipholus of Syracuse	Jonathan King
Dromio of Syracuse	Nigel Hadley
Antipholus of Ephesus	Nick Harman
Dromio of Ephesus	Philip Bliss
Adriana	Annabel Giles
Luciana	Debbie Adye (Lane)
A maid	Vickie Smith
Nell	Carole Sayers (Palmer)
A Merchant	Tom Osorio
Another Merchant	Simeone Pickford
Angelo	Guy Taylor
Balthasar	Bernard Forrester
A Courtesan	Sarah Keeler
Doctor Pinch	Stephen Bentley
Pinchs Apprentice	Richard Tipper
Emilia	Charlotte Andrews (Goddard)
Nun	Kate Doyle
	Rebecca Harman (Lane)
People of Ephesus	Mandy Bushell
	Julie Dafforne
	Sara Meaker
	David Richmond
	Amanda Harman
	Kate Doyle
	Rebecca Harman (Lane)

Role	Name
DIRECTOR	Eric Yardley
MUSICAL DIRECTOR	Peter Roberts - Vocal
	Clive Stott - Instrumental
CHOREOGRAPHER	Sally Bottomley
	Patty Bottomley
STAGE MANAGER	Fiona Andrews
	Kevin Browne
LIGHTING	Chris Davies
LIGHTING ASSISTANT	Eddie Dapre - Operation
	Annie Davies - Follow Spot
SOUND	Charles Halford
WARDROBE	Margaret Robertson
WARDROBE ASSISTANT	Jean Brown
SET DESIGNER	Jonathan King
PROPERTIES	Gill Simpson
PROMPT	Carol Pain

Role	Name
KEYBOARDS	Peter Roberts
GUITAR	Clive Stott
WOODWIND	Bob Hine
PERCUSSION	Gary Jones