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<\/p>\nMuch of the charm of Jobsite Theater\u2019s current production of The Comedy of Errors is the look \u2013 the costumes, and the characters, appear in day-glo colors straight out of the late 1960s\u2019 \u201cflower power\u201d era. Jeremy Douglas\u2019 incidental music flourishes invoke coffeehouse beatniks, punctuating the iambic pentameter of Shakespeare\u2019s oft-rhyming verse.<\/p>\n
The show itself moves like an overcaffeinated runaway train, a hybrid of the farce Noises Off! and Rowan and Martin\u2019s Laugh-In.<\/p>\n
Yet it\u2019s Shakespeare all the way. The language and the plot remain unchanged. Two sets of identical twins, each unaware of the other\u2019s existence, wind up in the City of Ephesus. Mistaken identities compound mistaken identities, there are misunderstandings and missed opportunities, the wrong people get jailed, absurdities and general wackiness pile up.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s longtime costume designer (and member of the acting ensemble) is Katrina Stevenson, and she says that while the central idea came from director David M. Jenkins, the look and feel of this Comedy of Errors was truly a collaboration between the backstage creative team and the actors.<\/p>\n
Stevenson is part of the nine-member cast. She plays Adriana, the hapless spouse of Antipholus of Ephesus, whose husband has begun to act suspiciously. Like he\u2019s never laid eyes (or hands) on her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHalf of this group, we\u2019ve never worked with before,\u201d she explains. \u201cBut they were young, eager, hungry coming in. So you had a group of people who were willing to start plain and just start throwing stuff out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as David started to work, you could feel it start to hit. Certain places started to show \u2018Look, this is a groove.\u2019 It feels natural, even in its absurdity. And so then it becomes finding those places that still feel janky and smooth it all out. And make it all work.\u201d<\/p>\n
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From left: Nicholas Perez-Hoop, Jacqueline St. Pierre, Logan Franke, Stevenson.<\/p>\n
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From left: St. Pierre, Franke, Cody Farkas.<\/p>\n
For the costume designs, she sourced pop art from the Beatles and the Monkees, the super-groovy era of miniskirts and Peter Max paintings. \u201cThere\u2019s lot of really good inspiration from that time period,\u201d Stevenson continues. \u201cI found all of these movie posters and artwork with all of these bold, geometric shapes, and that\u2019s what we started going with.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my job as the costume designer is really to tell that visual story, so that you know, immediately, who these characters are and what part of the world they exist in. Especially when you have actors playing multiple roles, and there are several of those in the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Key members of the visual storytelling team are scenic designer\/technical director Chris Giuffr\u00e9, and lighting designer Jo Averill-Snell.<\/p>\n
Stevenson herself joined the Jobsite family in its second season, 26 years ago, and has been involved with just about every production since.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working together so long,\u201d Stevenson says, \u201cthat honestly I think he trusts me to take his initial idea \u2013 and this is true with Jeremy and a lot of designers \u2013 where David says here\u2019s my inspiration, here\u2019s my idea, what are you bringing to the table?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he totally trusts that. You know, asks artists to be artistic. And that\u2019s what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Shakespeare can be interpreted many, many different ways, there can be roadblocks, even for the most astute scholar of the Bard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen something doesn\u2019t work, you go back to the text,\u201d says Stevenson. \u201cGo back to Shakespeare\u2019s text and go \u2018What is he saying? What is he doing ?\u2019 That\u2019s why I love Shakespeare. Seventy-five percent of the work, as an actor, is done for you. He does it in the word choice, he does it in the syntax that he uses, whether it\u2019s verse or prose. It is all there.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when you start getting lost, just go back to the text and dig back into it. And bring some insanity forward.\u201d<\/p>\n