'Comedy of Errors' is anything but at MCA

Kristi Jacobs, the theatre director and acting and fine arts survey teacher at Mount Carmel Academy, loves Shakespeare.
    Wanting to share her enthusiasm beyond producing his plays, Jacobs devised a two-pronged approach for her upcoming run of “The Comedy of Errors”: educate her student-actors about the intricacies of Shakespeare’s work, and develop cross-curricular Shakespeare lessons plans for elementary schools attending the production.
    “I am really excited about this opportunity and thrilled to have elementary students come see it and introduce some kids to theater they haven’t experienced,” she said, adding how she had worked in the education department for the Shakespeare Festival at the University of Alabama doing just that.
    To help her in this effort, she summoned Chris Roe, a former classmate from the master’s program at the University of Alabama and a resident at the BAMA Theatre Company, to Mount Carmel in late August.
    “Chris is one of the most amazing actors I have ever worked with,” Jacobs said. “He’s very intellectual and passionate and always takes things to the next level. He was in this play and spent a lot of time researching it. He also has a love of theater education and working with youth.”
    While Hurricane Isaac interrupted his stay, Roe was able to delve deeply into the script with the high school actors. He explained the archaic language used, the meaning behind the words and rhythm of the text as Shakespeare intended.
    Roe explained Shakespeare’s use of iambic and trochaic pentameter by having students recite the lines and gave a backstory of how even Shakespeare’s plays had errors due to transcribing them from his longhand to the printing presses of the day.
    “He helped them make sense of this old English,” Jacobs said, comparing it to learning a new language. “I think they have a much stronger understanding of what Shakespeare is all about. We still continue to work on what we started with him. I have seen a growth in their ability to break down the text and figure out what they are saying in their own words. At first, they were afraid to speak, and now they are diving right in.”
Archaic language given life
    Roe summarized the plot of “The Comedy of Errors” about two twin brothers and their twin servants – separated as children but donning the same names – who meet one day in the city of Ephesus. Of course, mayhem ensues.
    “Ephesus is this crazy town,” he said. “The people aren’t weird; they are off.”
    He challenged the actors and actresses to be “Shakespeare sleuths” – to  look up unfamiliar words in the Oxford dictionary and read footnotes to better understand what they are acting.
    “When I am doing Shakespeare, I own it,” Roe said. “You are a super sleuth.”
    He said the last time he performed the play he viewed it as a side show with every character having big personalities and being really eccentric.
    “The reason these plays have existed so long is that they are universal,” Roe told them.
    During the three to four readings, Roe would stop and explain unfamiliar words, old references and proverbs that Shakespeare used to set up situations and the relationships between characters, Jacobs said.
    Mount Carmel senior Caitlin Brimer, who is president of Shinto Tori Kabuki (STK),  MCA’s theater company, portrays Dromio of Ephesus, sidekick to Antipholus of Ephesus. She said going through the play line by line with Roe showed actors how Shakespeare’s plays are relevant today.
    “The family aspect of Shakespeare is so integral to our life in general,” Brimer said. “The idea of the lost family is relevant now as it was back then. We can relate to it. It’s a fun and enjoyable thing to watch and read.”
    Mount Carmel’s production is sticking close to the original script and its setting in Ephesus.
    “So many times we go to see Shakespeare shows and you walk out, ‘I really don’t know what was going on,’” Jacobs said. “I think with our production, the audience will be left understanding where these characters are coming from the relationships that are going on.”
     Jacobs and Brimer are hoping audiences, including young audiences, will gain a better appreciation for Shakespeare once they see the play.
    “It’s not archaic or boring or something that can’t be understood anymore,” Brimer said. “I  would love for everyone to learn to appreciate it for what it is – how beautiful and extraordinary the language is.”
    Public performances of “The Comedy of Errors” will be Oct. 24-27, 7 p.m., and Oct. 28, 2 p.m.; student performances will be Oct. 26, 10:30 a.m.
    Christine Bordelon can be reached at cbordelon@clarionherald.org.