The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors
Poster for 1879 production on Broadway, featuring Stuart Robson and William H. Crane
Written by	William Shakespeare
Characters	Solinus – Duke of Ephesus Aegeon – A merchant of Syracuse – father of the Antipholus twins Emilia – an Abbess – Antipholus' lost mother – wife to Aegeon Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse – twin brothers, sons of Aegeon and Emilia Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse – twin brothers, bondmen, each serving his respective Antipholus Adriana – wife of Antipholus of Ephesus Luciana – Adriana's sister, love interest of Antipholus of Syracuse Nell – kitchen wench/maid to Adriana, Wife of Dromio of Ephesus Luce – a witty and vivacious servant in the household of Antipholus of Syracuse Balthazar – a merchant Angelo – a goldsmith Courtesan First merchant – friend to Antipholus of Syracuse Second merchant – to whom Angelo is in debt Doctor Pinch – a conjuring schoolmaster Gaoler, Headsman, Officers, and other Attendants
Date premiered	c. 1592
Original language	Early Modern English
Genre	Shakespearean comedy

The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. It has been adapted for opera, stage, screen and musical theatre numerous times worldwide. In the centuries following its premiere, the play's title has entered the popular English lexicon as an idiom for "an event or series of events made ridiculous by the number of errors that were made throughout".^[1]

Set in the Greek city of Ephesus, The Comedy of Errors tells the story of two sets of identical twins who were accidentally separated at birth. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. When the Syracusans encounter the friends and families of their twins, a series of wild mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, a near-seduction, the arrest of Antipholus of Ephesus, and false accusations of infidelity, theft, madness, and demonic possession.