Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors" to be Blair's winter play

Blair's 2007 winter play will be Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors." Auditions begin next Monday in the auditorium.

Director Kelly O'Connor made the comedic selection – her fifth Shakespeare play at Blair. "It's very, very funny," she explained. "Lots of slapstick, verbal humor and a nutty plot."

The plot is largely based on mistaken identity. Two sets of identical twins, both named Antipholus and Dromio, arrive in the city of Ephesus simultaneously. Inevitably, money, family and houses are confused between the four men, leaving the audience slightly bewildered as well.

O'Connor predicted that the play will be well received. "It's very broad – the humor," she said. "It's a bit of the Three Stooges…[with the] confusion on the four twins being in the same place on the same day."

There will also be a pre-show before the play. Around 30 minutes before the show opens, the audience can gather in the auditorium to watch a carnival-like display. "I'm including as many students I can with the pre-show," O'Connor said. "We will have magic displays, tumbling shows, face painting, Tarot readings. It will feel like a carnival."

"A Comedy of Errors," written by William Shakespeare between 1589 and 1594, is considered to be one of his most farcical and funniest plays, in addition to the shortest.

O'Connor looks forward to the production, and does not foresee any problems with the sets of twins. "The audience can always tell them apart. Similar height, weight, build and hair color is really all you need," she said. The play is set in Ephesus, a city on the Adriatic coast. O'Connor believed the set and costume design will be challenging, but nowhere near impossible. "We're going to have exotic, bright colors and swirling robes against a backdrop of bright white houses," she said.

The play will open the first weekend of November.