My last full day in Ashland started with a hearty breakfast at a local restaurant. I don’t think it will be necessary to eat much the rest of the day. In the early afternoon, I headed over to the intimate Thomas Theatre, were I saw my last play of this visit, Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. This is the second time I’ve seen this play this summer, and CalShakes rendition was very good. But I think I had more fun with this one.
This production was set in 1920s Harlem, and the dialog was reworked a bit to make Harlem and Louisiana correspond to the two cities of the original play. The comedy was slapstick as usual, but the performance of the servant Dromio was outstanding, both in acting and physicality. The rest of the cast was good as well. In the tiny theater, sets changed by having the backing set rotate around for inside and outside, and elements rose up through the middle of the floor as needed. A very enjoyable performance.
This was a great way to end the week. I still don’t think I got my socks blown off like with two of the plays I saw last year, but my fear earlier in the week that all the plays would be just-ok turned out to be unfounded. With The Tempest and The Comedy of Errors, my week of relaxation and theater ended very well.