The Comedy of Errors

by William Shakespeare , Edited by T. S. Dorsch , Revised by Ros King

• ISBN13: 9780521827942
• ISBN10: 0521827949
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Comedy of Errors has been popular on the stage during the last three centuries and has proved itself admirably suited to adaptation as pure farce and musical spectacle. For this updated edition, Ros King has provided a completely new Introduction to the existing text and commentary, in which she argues that the play cannot be regarded merely as a farcical romp based on a classical model, but belongs to the critically misunderstood genre of tragi-comedy. In stressing the seriousness which underlies the story, the Introduction picks out the play's religious imagery for special attention, whilst also engaging fully with the play's deft lightness of touch and its continuing popularity in the theatre. A fresh Reading List guides the reader towards further study.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations

Acknowledgements

Preface to first edition

Abbreviations

Introduction by Ros King: Shakespeare's main source: Plautus's Menaechmi

Shakespeare's first tragicomedy

Shakespeare's schooling and the construction of The Comedy of Errors

Casting the twins

Verse form and metrication

The first known performance: Gray's Inn 1594

Later productions

Note on the text

List of characters

THE PLAY

Appendixes: 1. The performance of 1594

2. Passages from the Bible

Reading list.