Hear the story of William Shakespeare's “The Comedy of Errors”
The story of William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, as told by the...
Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
SPEAKER 1: Well, it's all a bit chaotic.
SPEAKER 2: Before the play begins, Egeon marries Emilia and they have identical twins.
SPEAKER 3: Antipholus, named them both Antipholus. And then they bought two slave twins, the Dromios.
SPEAKER 4: It's a comedy.
SPEAKER 5: There is a father who has arrived in this land.
SPEAKER 6: But he's not allowed to be in that land.
SPEAKER 5: And he has to plead his case in front of a duke.
SPEAKER 7: And he has puppets.
SPEAKER 4: And he tells this great story of a shipwreck, which basically split his family.
SPEAKER 6: The duke feels really bad for him and he says, look you, I'm going to give you a day. Go find the money that you need to stay alive.
SPEAKER 8: Meanwhile--
SPEAKER 9: One brother goes in search of the other brother.
SPEAKER 1: And everybody ends up in the same town.
SPEAKER 8: So there's a lot of mistaken identity.
SPEAKER 2: The world feels very, very odd and weird and impossible.
SPEAKER 10: And the wrong Antipholus goes and has dinner with his wife.
SPEAKER 7: And the wife doesn't know that her husband is actually the twin. And--
SPEAKER 6: He woos the sister, not the wife because it's not really his wife.
SPEAKER 10: And then the real Antipholus comes home and he can't get in for dinner.
SPEAKER 5: Next thing that happens is--
SPEAKER 8: There's a chain. There's a chain. There's a necklace that he's bought, and it goes to the wrong guy.
SPEAKER 10: And then the other Antipholus gets arrested for not paying for the chain, which he never really received, and then--
SPEAKER 3: It goes on and on like that for a long time.
SPEAKER 8: And at the end--
SPEAKER 10: The Antipholus and the Dromios, they come face to face. And they realize that they have found their twin brothers.
SPEAKER 8: And everybody meets at the end. And they're all happy. It all gets sorted out, and it's happy.
SPEAKER 3: It's cute.
SPEAKER 1: And it's funny.
SPEAKER 2: It better be funny.
SPEAKER 2: Before the play begins, Egeon marries Emilia and they have identical twins.
SPEAKER 3: Antipholus, named them both Antipholus. And then they bought two slave twins, the Dromios.
SPEAKER 4: It's a comedy.
SPEAKER 5: There is a father who has arrived in this land.
SPEAKER 6: But he's not allowed to be in that land.
SPEAKER 5: And he has to plead his case in front of a duke.
SPEAKER 7: And he has puppets.
SPEAKER 4: And he tells this great story of a shipwreck, which basically split his family.
SPEAKER 6: The duke feels really bad for him and he says, look you, I'm going to give you a day. Go find the money that you need to stay alive.
SPEAKER 8: Meanwhile--
SPEAKER 9: One brother goes in search of the other brother.
SPEAKER 1: And everybody ends up in the same town.
SPEAKER 8: So there's a lot of mistaken identity.
SPEAKER 2: The world feels very, very odd and weird and impossible.
SPEAKER 10: And the wrong Antipholus goes and has dinner with his wife.
SPEAKER 7: And the wife doesn't know that her husband is actually the twin. And--
SPEAKER 6: He woos the sister, not the wife because it's not really his wife.
SPEAKER 10: And then the real Antipholus comes home and he can't get in for dinner.
SPEAKER 5: Next thing that happens is--
SPEAKER 8: There's a chain. There's a chain. There's a necklace that he's bought, and it goes to the wrong guy.
SPEAKER 10: And then the other Antipholus gets arrested for not paying for the chain, which he never really received, and then--
SPEAKER 3: It goes on and on like that for a long time.
SPEAKER 8: And at the end--
SPEAKER 10: The Antipholus and the Dromios, they come face to face. And they realize that they have found their twin brothers.
SPEAKER 8: And everybody meets at the end. And they're all happy. It all gets sorted out, and it's happy.
SPEAKER 3: It's cute.
SPEAKER 1: And it's funny.
SPEAKER 2: It better be funny.