On November 14-16, 2024 the Colonial Forge theater department showed a wild west adaptation of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors for their fall play. We all know that it’s difficult to understand Shakespeare in our English classes already, but the department did their best effort to make it easier to understand.
The Shakespeare play was also difficult for the students to perform because of their difficulty to understand his words as well. The western accents and the confusing plot did not make interpreting any easier which was another struggle for them in their performance.
“The way that each actor plays their character will ultimately come together and create a theme or an energy for the show. How you play your character really affects everyone else and the story overall. I definitely always recommend talking to the director, seeing what they want, and especially with something like Shakespeare, it’s hard enough to understand,” Emily Alonso (25), who played Dromio of Syracuse, said.
With the help and support of their stage manager, Kaitlyn “Kat” Halepaska (25), and technical theater teacher and director, Mr. Jeffry Clevenger, the cast was able to focus more on their lines and less on the tech side of things like their props and blocking.
“I would constantly go to the director and figure out our cast problems so that I can report back to them and individually work on scenes and lines with them. My way of helping the director was making sure that all of the cast was ready in time for rehearsals and show days…ensuring scripts [were] out and the cast’s hair and makeup were all done,” Kat said.
Since the play has a plot that is meant to be confusing with separated twins, the two actresses Isabella “Bella” Alvarez-Carrero (26) and Emily Alonso (25) had to get extra guidance.
“One of our directors actually gave us a resting pose, with our hands on our hips, so that when in doubt, there was something about us that goes the extra mile to always make us look and act similar,” Emily said.
The actors had to learn new skills for their roles with understanding the language and speaking in a western accent.
“I started studying those types of manners within movies and TV shows, and seeing how I can throw that into my character. I watched a lot of old western movies, and funnily enough, the Rango movie. I watched it twice to get myself ready to act like Antipholous of Syracuse,” Michael Guckian (26), who played Antipholous of Syracuse, said.
Despite all of these struggles and confusion, the actors managed to work together to perform the show. Their teamwork and unease with Shakespearean language gave them a special connection in the end.
“Everyone was so confused. No one knew what was going on. Everyone was just there. Performing, we had no idea what to do because all of our chemistry was all over the place. It’s just that connected all of us together, in my opinion, because we all had a central struggle that we had to get through, that we had no idea what’s going on. I remember after the show, it was just such an accomplishment after it that we actually were able to perform Shakespeare,” Michael said.
The play also helped the students feel more comfortable with getting closer to their peers.
“At the end of the show, there were people who I didn’t know beforehand, who were new to the department, or I was just familiar with that I didn’t talk to. But by the end of the closing night we were l holding hands and hugging,” Kat concluded.
