This week, the ensemble reached the grand finale of The Comedy of Errors—and with it, the full force of Shakespeare’s chaos. The play’s last two acts are a whirlwind of mistaken identities, arrests, accusations of madness, and one long-delayed family reunion. With the ensemble champing at the bit to get started on production, the group’s mix of laughter, insight, and sharp observation filled the room.
The reading of Act 4.4 opened with good humor despite the smaller turnout. “It’s a pretty confusing play—hence the name Comedy of Errors,” someone joked as the group settled in. Soon, they were deep in the action: the twin Antipholuses shouting accusations, the Dromios running in circles, and Adriana convinced her husband has lost his mind. When one reader reached the line “Thou dissembling harlot!” another laughed, “Oooh, he says some STUFF!” The line got snaps and applause.
The group then debated why the Abbess refuses to let Adriana enter the convent after her “possessed” husband takes refuge there. “You bring the sick and the mental to the Abbess. This is a holy place,” one participant said. Another immediately fired back, “You got hoes, not holy!” The room erupted in laughter. Others explained that abbeys in Shakespeare’s time were sanctuaries. “You bring the sick and the mental to the Abbess,” the reader repeated, and another agreed that abbeys were “safe places,” and beyond the scope of the law. Little do we know, the abbess is actually the twin’s mother and this is revealed later in the scene.
As the ensemble read the play’s closing act, the tangle of twins and misunderstandings began to unravel. “I think let’s start auditions!” someone shouted mid-scene, eager to move on to the next stage of work. A few participants were still catching up—“I missed twenty-five minutes and am completely lost!”—but the room stayed lighthearted. When another said, “I used to be like, ‘not me,’ and now I’m ready to read,” the group cheered.
By the week’s end, the ensemble voted to do something they’d never done before: a full read-through of the No Fear Shakespeare text. “We can still find our own meaning in the No Fear side,” one participant said. “It’ll give us the perspective we need to feel the mood.” Most of the facilitation team spoke against the idea saying that the No Fear side was not really designed to be spoken like lines, but were really meant for accuracy and it may not sound right; second, that No Fear side is created by editors and you as the reader have to agree with the editors on a passage’s meaning if you are performing that side of the text; additionally, that the point of SIP is to wrestle with the language of Shakespeare and not to be reading modern translations. The group voted almost unanimously to read the No Fear side. So the message was clear, we’d be reading the No Fear side in it’s entirety. We’ve never done this before, and most likely will not again; most of the other plays have us reading through most of November, because Comedy of Errors is so short we have some room to try something new!