Photo Essay

My photo essay comes from the play I recently was a part of. The play is The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespear.  For those not particularly familiar with the story, it is basically the story of a father, Ageon being seperated from his wife, Emilia and their four children.  While out to sea their boat wrecks, and the family gets seperated.  The children our sets of twins.  One set of twins is named Dromio, and the other Antipholus.  One Dromio and one Antipholus wind up living in Ephesus and the other Dromio and Antipholus wind up living in Syracus.  Thus giving us the four main characters of the play, Dromio and Antipholus of Ephesus and Dromio and Antipholus of Syracuse.  Being infants at the time they were seperated, they don't know each other.  It's a comedy about mistaken identities.  The whole story can be pretty confusing, but it was an entertaining performance.  This photo is an image from the second scene of the play, Antipholus of Syracuse (Haley Comodor) and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse (Brittany Barnabei) have traveled to Ephesus in search of their long lost twin brothers and their mother. Antipholus mistakenly gives money to Dromio of Syracuse to comission a chain for his wife which is what this photo shows us.  Dromios twin, Dromio of Ephesus (Mark Rattay) shows up and the confusion begins.




This is a photo of Antipholus of Syracuse attempting to give Dromio of Ephesus (who he thinks is Dromio of Syracuse) a beating.  Dromio of Syracuse, our first Dromio, comes back and has no idea why Antipholus of Syracuse thinks he was just there. They wind up at the house of Adriana, who thinks Antipholus of Syracuse is actually Antipholus of Ephesus, her husband and his twin. Confusing...I know.
  




This is an image of Adriana (Fauna Robinson) slapping Antipholus of Syracuse.  Taken from the third scene of the play, Adriana thinks that Antipholus of Syracuse is her husband, Antipholus of Ephesus.  She is obviously upset with him, but this only confuses both him and his servant Dromio of Syracuse who have never before seen Adriana.




After being slapped in the face and also being verbally abused by Adriana, Antipholous of Syracuse decides to use Dromio of Syracuse as a shield against her.  Brittany's (Dromio of Syracuse) melo dramatic hand gesture gives an insight as to how much of a slapstick comedy the play really is.



Another photo from scene three, this is an image of Dromio of Syracuse being held by Antipholous of Syracuse.  Having never met Adriana before, they are both very confused as to exactly why she knows their names.  At this point in the play, they both are convinced that Adriana must be a goblin or some spirit.





An image from the beginning of scene four, this is a photo of Adriana's sister, Luciana (her back side).  Antipholus of Syracuse finds her very attractive and decides to follow her back to the house of Adriana.  Dromio of Syracuse tags along and they all dine together.




                                                                         
                                                                      The Door Scene
This is an image from the middle of scene four.  Antipholous of Ephesus and his servant Dromio of Ephesus are turned away from their own door. Meanwhile, Adriana is dining with Antipholous of Syracuse thinking he's her husband when he's actually his twin.  Dromio of Syracuse answers Antipholous cry to let him in with sarcasm.  They bicker back and forth. 




                                                                            Let me in!

This is a closer shot of the actors reaction to being locked out of his house.  After much back and forth debate, Antipholous of Ephesus finally gives in and is turned away from his own door.


  
               

                                                                       Will you marry me?

This is by far one of the creepier shots I took througout the performance.  This is an image of Antipholous of Syracuse professing his love to his sister-in-law Luciana.  Luciana thinking Antipholous of Syracuse is Antipholous of Ephesus, her sisters husband, is extremely confused and pretty wierded out by the whole situation.




                                                                          Headin to prison

This is a photo from scene five.  The goldsmith returns for payment of the chain he had inadvertanly gave to Antipholous of Syracuse.  When Antipholous of Ephesus denies recieving the jain, he is arrested and sent to jail.  His servant, Dromio of Ephesus rushes home to get money for his bail.



This is another image from scene five.  This photo is actually the epic fight scene in the play between the second merchant (myself) and Antipholous of Syracuse.  The second merchant calls him out for being a liar and he went off the deep end.  Foam nun chucks still hurt.



                                                          KO!
This photo is the end result of the epic fight scene.  Antipholous of Syracuse beats up the second merchant, the goldsmith and even his servant Dromio.  He finally meets his twin Antipholous of Ephesus and the confusion continues.



                                                                                      Who are you?
The two Antipholous and two Dromios finally meet in the end.   After years of seperation from each other and their father and mother, and after much confusion they finally realize they're all related.  All is happy in Ephesus.



                                                                     Cast and Crew