Earlier this year, The Acting Company began its spring tour at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, premiering William Shakespeare’s “The
Comedy of Errors.” Now, the nationally-acclaimed theater group will be bringing the laughs to Madison on Feb. 3 to perform the farcical, entertaining performance at Memorial Union. 

One of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, “The Comedy of Errors” is a
comical story of two sets of twins separated at birth and the unfortunate
mishaps and events that occur later in their lives.

John Skelley and Stephen Pilkington take the stage as one set of
twins, Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse, brothers and the servants to
the other set of twins, Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse. The
Dromio twins often find themselves at the intersection of the confusion and
miscommunication of the play and can be described as “the clowns of the play,”
Skelley said in a recent interview with The Badger Herald.

Although having previously performed other Shakespearean works,
this is the first time either actor is staging “The Comedy of Errors.” While
still in the early stretch of their roughly four-month tour, the actors are
pleased with the camaraderie of their company, “which is always tricky…it’s a
long tour… but we actually have a really, really great group of people. Everyone has a really good time together,” Pilkington said.

Like many actors in theatrical performances, Skelley and Pilkington relate to their characters, which is “probably one of our number one jobs,”
Skelley said.

Pilkington, an Australian native, compared Dromio’s role as a
servant to that of a person seeking acceptance in society. 

“The Dromios are
servants in the show; they’re at the whim of the masters and trying to please
their masters…To some degree you always put it on yourself to make sure you
fit in and people respect you,” Pilkington said.

Not only were Pilkington and Skelley able to connect with their
characters in a realistic sense, but they also found the play itself relatable and feel it resembles something akin to the antics of a situational comedy. 

“[The Comedy of Errors] is one of Shakespeare’s
earliest plays…It’s almost like a sitcom…It’s all about the situation
they’re in, everyone thinks they know what’s going on but nobody really does
until the whole picture is unraveled at the end of the play,” Skelley said.

Pilkington agreed that the play was relatable to a situational
comedy, dubbing it “Shakespeare’s Seinfeld.”

“It’s a really fun,
uproarious play. It’s the classic case of mistaken identity…It’s also about
finding yourselves, finding family” Skelley added.

Not only will it be enjoyable for audience members, but the cast
found it more amusing to perform than most classical theatrical works. 

“I think that’s something Shakespeare gives you…a lot of text
is in a rhythm, there’s a lot of iambic pentameter…that helps you with the
rhythm of the scene…and everything is in the text. There’s very little
subtext in Shakespeare – the characters say what they’re thinking… for me,
everything is easier because it’s in the text,” Pilkington said.

Pilkington also feels that by exploring the characters and performance more deeply, it allows him and the rest of the cast to uncover new details about the play.

“During rehearsal and performance we are always finding new
things. Just today in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ – the other show we do on the road – John
and I have this scene together and we just found a deep piece of
information… and that’s what makes Shakespeare so great; there’s always more
to find,” Pilkington said.

Although Shakespeare provided a manuscript, it was up to the
actors to decide how to bring life to their characters. To prepare for his
role, Skelley decided to research ahead of time.

“The Dromios are based a bit on Charlie Chaplin; I looked at a
lot of Charlie Chaplin; I looked at a lot of Abbott and Costello, things like
that to kind of inspire me of how I was going to tell the story,” Skelley
said.

Although audiences can sometimes find Shakespeare to be daunting,
Skelley and company attempt to make the show “relatable and fun for people to understand and
enjoy.” 

“The Comedy of Errors” with The Acting Company will be performed Feb. 3 at the Union Theater beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students, $20-$34 general admission.