STRATFORD - The Hudson Shakespeare Company of New Jersey will perform the second of three Shakespeare productions at the Stratford Library with "The Comedy of Errors" on July 28 at 2 pm., according to a statnent

 

 "The company returned to Stratford for its seventh annual season last month with a program of three plays.  The theatre program is free and open to the public," the statement said.

            "'The Comedy of Errors' follows Antipholus of Syracuse and his trusty sidekick and good buddy Dromio as they arrive in the exotic and mysterious city of Ephesus in search for their long lost relatives.  At birth both Antipholus and Dromio were separated from their twin brothers.  Little do they know that their twin siblings, also known as Antipholus and Dromio, live in town and soon the boys from Syracuse are mistaken for their siblings." 

"Mistaken identities are compounded as the brotherly pairs mistake each other, incorporate local merchants, nuns, Dukes and a strange 'doctor' as the hilarious mistakes reach a comic climax.  The Hudson troupe takes the absurd farce from its ancient Greek setting to 1940's New York with a Looney Tunes edge."

 "The show's over- the-top and frenetic comic pace lends itself to a cartoon like setting", director Michael Hagins said, also in the statement.

Hudson is in its 21^st season of traveling Shakespeare.  The final play in the series this summer will be a special presentation of Shakespeare's "lost play", "Cardenio" on August 11.  Patrons should bring a lawn chair or blanket to spread in the amphitheatre prior to the 2 pm show time.  In the event of rain, performances will take place in the library's air-conditioned Lovell Room, the statement said

            For moreinformation, call the Stratford Library Public Relations and Programming Office at 203.385.4162 or visit: www.stratfordlibrary.org.

 

Photo Caption:  1940's Looney Tunes meets double twin trouble in Hudson Shakespeare Company's production of "Comedy of Errors" featuring (above left) Michael Rehse, right  and Rich Wisneski and (below left) Melissa Meli and Laura Mae Baker (right).

Editor's note: All information in this post was contributed. It is largely unedited here.