Theatre reviews: Comedy of Errors | Twelfth Night; RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon

AMIR Nizar Zuabi’s production of The Comedy of Errors embodies the internationalism of this year’s World Shakespeare Festival.

Yet the Palestinian director holds out the promise of saying something interesting about trade and cultural dislocation, rather than delivering it.

Mistaken identity lies at the heart of the drama, though no one could possibly mix up the Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse that we see here; it’s never plausible that Stephen Hagan and Jonathan McGuinness are the identical twins they’re meant to be, and this compromises the effectiveness of their performances.

The interpretation often feels self-indulgent, full of gimmicks, yet lacking coherent vision. Various contrivances suggest the darkness of a brutal police state, but there are also elements that seem exuberantly camp. Despite splashes of appealing physical comedy, it’s a rather charmless take on a play that, amid farcical moments, can be a romantic picture of human vulnerability.

Rating: **

David Farr’s account of Twelfth Night begins arrestingly, with Viola clambering onstage from a sloshing pool of water. It is a gesture symptomatic of a production that revels in deft staging, but doesn’t offer a sufficiently crisp sense of story.

Farr emphasises the play’s comic aspects. The results are sometimes hilarious, but don’t have enough fluency, and unruliness prevails over the text’s notes of melancholy. The main strength is Jonathan Slinger’s Malvolio.

Warm, simple music by Adem Ilhan and a striking Jon Bausor design are among the stronger features of a production that’s clever yet uneven.

Rating: ***