I begin with a comedy but one I’ve not read before or at least not as clear in my memory as others. So what better than something with ‘Comedy’ in the title? As with many of the plays on the list I have never seen a full performance; on stage, screen or TV. Closest would be either of the movies ‘Big Business’ (1988) with Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin, or ‘Start the Revolution Without Me’ (1970) with Donald Sutherland and Gene Wilder. Neither is an adaptation of the play but do both use the plot device and resulting confusion of mixing up of a pair of identical twins at birth.
Closest to the real thing was watching the O-Level Drama students in the year below me at school perform selected scenes as part of the exam practical. It will come as no surprise that I’m a ex-actor – in the sense that I studied (and I use that term very lightly) to be an actor, then spent about eight years trying to survive as one before eventually throwing in the make-up smeared towel and entering the ‘real’ world. But I digress. Back now to the late Eighties…
I’d taken my own O-Levels the previous year. I imagine I’d heard of Shakespeare before hitting secondary school but it was there, in both English and Drama, that I’d first read any of the plays. I should at this point like to make mention of a teacher who I would guess is sadly no longer with us; Mr Garten! Mr Garten was a mad history teacher who also taught drama. His particular love was the Bard although he might have referred to him more as ‘The Bawd!’ The reason being that he just loved to point every last bit of bawdiness and innuendo from within the plays we read to the enjoyment of some and the embarrassment of others, depending on who he was speaking to. He was a great and funny man.
He also directed my own O-Level performance of ‘The Skin of Our Teeth’ by Thornton Wilder. The fourth year students supported us when we performed this which is why I went back to offer my own support when it was their turn the following year. It was a fair evening although the two lads playing Antipholus and Dromio spent most of the time making each other laugh as a result of the one constantly beating the other! You may think that Riff-Raff gets a hard time from Dr. Frank-N-Furter but that’s nothing compared bruises on both Dromios by the end of this play!
Final thoughts – Let's see 'Shipwreck' (check), 'Twins' (check), 'Mistaken Identity' (check). Yep, it's a Shakespearean comedy alright!
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