One of the best places to see high quality productions of Shakespeare’s plays is at Stratford, Ontario in Canada. The Stratford Festival, founded in 1952, runs from April to October. It has three theatres and its repertoire includes world theatre. It has a large archive of past productions on film, which can be watched online for a modest fee.
Richard Monette’s, nimble, inventive, fast-paced production of The Comedy of Errors, abridged to 80 minutes and set in the 18th century, dates from 1989 when it was filmed for television.
Shakespeare’s farce, a classic case of mistaken identity, has always been popular. The situation is excellent. There are two sets of twins – two identical masters called Antipholus and two identical servants called Dromio. One set lives in Syracuse. The other set lives in Ephesus. The confusion arises when the Syracusans come to Ephesus and nobody can tell the brothers apart; and not least Adriana, wife of the Ephesian Antipholus, who ends up, er… I won’t spoil it for you. You will have to see the play.
Ephesus was notorious for its ribaldry and drunkenness; and, as you can imagine, immensely popular with British tourists. The only downside was its immigration policy. Any Syracusan seen in Ephesus was immediately arrested and executed unless he could pay a ransom of one thousand pounds.
The twins are played by one actor. Geordie Johnson plays the two Antipholuses. Keith Dinicol plays the two Dromios and he is particularly funny, especially when he is describing what Nell, the kitchen maid, who has taken a fancy to him, looks like. He describes her enormous, sweaty, grimy, spherical body in hilarious and vulgar detail.
Monette’s enjoyable production of The Comedy of Errors can be watched online by following this link.
To learn more about Robert Tanitch and his reviews, click here to go to his website. 
