Read The Comedy of Errors for Free Online Page A

her that Antipholus is threatening to attack Adriana and, as a cry is heard within, urges her to fly. The duke tells her not to fear, but Adriana cannot understand how her husband has got out of the abbey.
    Lines 192–283: Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus enter and Antipholus asks the duke to grant him justice. Egeon, apparently unheard by the others, recognizes his son, but believes that he is looking at Antipholus of Syracuse. Antipholus continues to ask for justice against Adriana for shutting him out of his house. Backed up by Luciana, Adriana insists that she dined at home with her husband. Antipholus recounts the whole day’s events from his perspectiveand Angelo confirms that he was locked out, but still insists that Antipholus has the chain and was wearing it when he ran into the abbey. Antipholus denies ever entering the abbey but the Courtesan says he did and, moreover, he has her ring. He freely admits to this and the duke, presented with events that apparently both did and did not happen, declares that they all must be under some enchantment, or “stark mad.” He sends for the abbess.
    Lines 284–428: Egeon tells the duke that he sees “a friend” that will save his life by paying the thousand marks. He addresses Antipholus and Dromio by name (assuming that they are of Syracuse) but they deny knowing him. Distressed, Egeon insists that they must at least recognize his voice and tells Antipholus that he is his son, and reminds him of their parting in Syracuse seven years previously. Antipholus argues that he has never seen either his father or Syracuse, and the duke backs him up. Just then, Emilia leads in Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse. Everyone is amazed. She then reveals that she is Egeon’s lost wife and recounts how she was separated from her son and his servant shortly after their rescue. As their stories unfold, the day’s events become clear. The necklace, the ring, and the money all find their rightful owners and Egeon is pardoned. Emilia invites them all into the abbey. The two sets of twins are reconciled with one another and follow the others in, and the restored order is symbolized by the two Dromios exiting “hand in hand, not one before another.”

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
IN PERFORMANCE:
THE RSC AND BEYOND
    The best way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or ideally to participate in it. By examining a range of productions, we may gain a sense of the extraordinary variety of approaches and interpretations that are possible—a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made “our contemporary” four centuries after his death.
    We begin with a brief overview of the play’s theatrical and cinematic life, offering historical perspectives on how it has been performed. We then analyze in more detail a series of productions staged over the last half century by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The sense of dialogue between productions that can occur only when a company is dedicated to the revival and investigation of the Shakespeare canon over a long period, together with the uniquely comprehensive archival resource of promptbooks, program notes, reviews, and interviews held on behalf of the RSC at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, allows an “RSC stage history” to become a crucible in which the chemistry of the play can be explored.
    Finally, we go to the horse’s mouth. Modern theater is dominated by the figure of the director, who must hold together the whole play, whereas the actor must concentrate on his or her part. The director’s viewpoint is therefore especially valuable. Shakespeare’s plasticity is wonderfully revealed when we hear directors of highly successful productions answering the same questions in very different ways.
FOUR CENTURIES OF
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
: AN OVERVIEW
    It seems fitting that the first recorded performance of a play so often treated as farce should have ended in chaos and confusion.
The