The Comedy of Errors: The 30-Minute Shakespeare

An abridgement for performance by young people and amateur adults, “road tested” at the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Student Shakespeare Festival.

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The Comedy of Errors: The 30-Minute Shakespeare offers five raucous scenes from this extravaganza of mistaken identity.

The abridgement begins with a dramatic physical enactment of the twins’ separation at sea. The play continues with a series of foibles featuring Antipholus of Ephesus, Dromio of Ephesus, and their identical twin counterparts from Antipholus.

Adriana and Luciana receive hysterically misguided attention from the twins. Emilia and Egeon as the long-lost parents, and the riotous conjurer Dr. Pinch round out the cast of characters in Shakespeare’s most uproarious comedy.

The edition includes a preface by Nick Newlin containing helpful advice on how to put on a Shakespeare performance in a high school class with novice actors, as well as an appendix with suggestions for the specific play and recommendations for further resources.