http://www.idahostatesman...p?ID=43619

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Fancy a farce? Shakespeare Festival is cooking up funnies

Dana Oland
The Idaho Statesman

It might surprise Idaho theater-goers that the inner workings of an Idaho Shakespeare Festival production has been a hot topic in New York City for the past month. That´s because director Christopher Bayes and his team — costume designer Elizabeth Caitlin Ward and set designer Narelle Sissons — live there and spent weeks researching and planning “The Comedy of Errors,” which opens at the festival on Saturday.

“It was a very rich research period. We took all the information and just made big stew. It´s so exciting,” Bayes said, relaxing on the veranda at the Fulton Street Theater two weeks ago. The home of Boise Contemporary Theater becomes the festival´s rehearsal headquarters during the season.

The play is a farce that would have made the Marx Brothers guffaw. Touched with Shakespeare´s genius, it carries undertones of the tragedy of the human condition and the importance of relationships.

That´s what elevates this story about two sets of twins, both separated by a shipwreck at birth, into a comic masterpiece.

One set, both named Antipholus, are aristocrats. The other set, both named Dromio, are their servants. After years of separation they all end up in Ephesus, a city in Asia Minor.

Shakespeare just thought that would be an exotic place for the story, but as it turns out, for Bayes it´s much, much more.

Ephesus is a city in ruins today. The centerpiece of those ruins is a theater that could seat 24,000 people.

“The coolest thing about it, and the thing that continues to tickle me no end,” Bayes said, “is that the landscape of the ruins looks exactly like Boise.”

According to Bayes, what those ancient people looked out on from their seats is very similar to the view from the Idaho Shakespeare Festival Amphitheater.

“So the more we looked at it, we said, ´let´s set it in the ruins of Ephesus.´”

Sisson´s set features pillars askew, a large nose that has fallen off a statue and trailers where some of the characters live. There are also elements of a theme park because today´s ancient ruins “… always have this little refreshment stand where you can buy a hot dog and walk around. So that´s where Antipholus works. Maybe they sell things … little tchotchkes, plastic Virgin Marys battling plastic Artemises like the Rock ´em Sock ´em robots.”

Virgin Mary? You see, the city was also where Mary lived out the rest of her life. At that time, many of the Hellenistic people of that area worshiped the Roman goddess Artemis (Diana to the Greeks) and there was a war between the two factions.

Bayes also brings in pop culture icons “Purple Rain” stars Morris Day and the Time, an entire hip-hop opera, elements of a John Woo movie and New-Orleans style funkified brass jazz. (The cast includes a live brass band.)

“So, there´s lots of influence and we came up with a very rich palate,” Bayes says.

All of these bits of information get processed through Bayes´ and the actors´ brains and find their way into the text and subtext of the play.

Layer that on top of Bayes´ incredibly large arsenal of comic influences from Commedia dell´arte to Max Sennett, and you get a wacky, comic extravaganza to rival Bayes´ 1999 festival debut, “Scapin.”

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