Aaron Schoepf and Olivia Bailey in The Comedy of Errors. ANGELINA PEREZ/COURTESY
By Brooke DellaRocco, Staff Writer
After an inspiring semester, Manhattan College’s Players performed their fall mainstage production, “Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors” just before Thanksgiving break, letting the performers shine and the audience release a few laughs.
This comedic play, directed by Will Erat and performed in The Black Box, follows the story of two sets of identical twins who were separated at birth. Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse set out to Ephesus to locate their lost siblings, Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus, but their arrival stirs up lots of confusion and hilarious situations where twins are mistaken for other twins.
Known as Shakespeare’s shortest play, and one of the most memorable, it is no surprise that Players decided to introduce this piece of art to the audience, but with a twist. MC Players included a 70s-themed costuming of the show, adding a little more color to the stage and more fun to the visuals.
Aaron Schoepf, a sophomore at MC, played Antipholus of Syracuse in the play, showing a great amount of emotional and theatrical range.
“I did a lot of Shakespeare research,” Schoepf said. “I did a lot of research on the show itself, or other [Shakespeare] productions. I watched a few other productions and then really practiced my lines, and practiced different ways of saying them and different intentions to see what works best.”
One of the main challenges with this show was the Shakespearean language and the motive to help the audience understand what was taking place on stage.
“I would say it is a little more difficult, just because of the nature of Shakespeare, because we did the original Old English [version],” Schoepf said. “So trying to convey the meaning of the show with Shakespeare is pretty hard to understand.”
As a result, actors used their body language and movement as an advantage, where if the audience cannot understand the words they are speaking, they can still understand what actions are taking place.
However, some students in the audience did not have any difficulty understanding the plot, with many cheering on their classmates. Students Maggie Knapp and Kevin Kane both attended the show to support their friends and the program.
“This has been really fun so far,” Kane said. “I thought that it was gonna be hard to follow the whole Shakespeare language, but it was a lot more easy to understand. They’re very expressive.”
With inspiring set design, costumes and acting it is quite obvious when watching from the audience that everyone on stage and off is having fun. The love for live theater and the portrayal of the story enveloped the audience and could be described as immersive.
Knapp applauded the performance as well, speaking on her first experience with Players.
“The show is so funny,” Knapp said. “I really like that it is 70s-themed. Everyone is super duper talented and this is actually my first time going to go see a Players show.”
Landen Scofield, a junior at MC, played Angelo in the performance and commented on how MC Players has shaped his time at the school.
“My favorite part about being in a group like this is how much fun we can have while still being productive,” Scofield wrote in an email to The Quadrangle. “One day, when we were all collectively tired, just broke and started making the most ridiculous run of the show we ever had and it ended with the last act being a 15-minute rap battle with our lines. It’s goofy moments like that I will remember forever.”
With Players concluding their fall season of shows, students from the audience urged fans to donate to their GoFundMe in hopes of putting on these productions in the future.
In the last minutes of his interview, Schoepf mentioned why he loves theater and how he contributes to the community by performing on stage.
“My favorite part is probably making people laugh,” Schoepf said. “Especially because the show was a comedy, getting people to kind of forget about whatever problems they have and just sit in a room and laugh at these people on stage.”
ANGELINAPEREZ/COURTESY