Laughs Just as The Bard Intended (Actors Theatre/Fiasco Theatre)

The Comedy of Errors

Written by William Shakespeare Created in collaboration with The Saunders Collective

Directed by Ben Steinfield

Music and lyrics by Heath Saunders

Review by Loraine Lawson Entire contents are copyright © 2026 Loraine Lawson. All rights reserved.

Actors Theatre of Louisville hosted the world premier of the Fiasco Theater’s Comedy of Errors Friday night, a musical rendition of the classic comedy that delivered both high- and low-brow laughs — just as the bard intended.

The show stars The Saunders Collective, a broadly talented team of siblings that includes Trent, Heath, Claire and Alanna Saunders. (Oldest brother Blake is a teaching artist.) Heath wrote the music and lyrics for the production.

The results is a Shakespearean play that adds a little jazz, a hefty dose of slap stick, and Vaudeville variety to create a contemporary musical.

Don’t worry: It’s still Shakespeare. There’s plenty of the original script embedded in the two hour production, although it does mix in famous lines from other scripts a bit both in the dialogue and songs.

The story involves two sets of identical twins, one high born and the other servants, who are separated by a storm. Antipholus of Syracuse, (Trent), and Dromio of Syracuse, (Alanna), grow up together, while Antipholus of Ephesus (Heath), and Dromio of Ephesus (Claire) grow up together on different shores.

The trouble begins when the Ephesus Antipholus and Dromio come to town and are mistaken for the Syracuse Antipholus and Dromoi.

What ensues, of course, are a host of confusing identity scenes that drive the other characters to the point of madness.

Adriana, the wife of Antipholus of Syracuse played by Jihan Haddad, confuses the Ephesus twins for her husband and his servant. She insists they come home with her, which leads to a hilarious dinner party that’s interrupted by the loud knocking from her actual husband and his Dromio. She refuses to let them in, which causes Antipholus to storm off in a vengeful huff.

The Ephesus twins finally manage to escape the household, although not before Antipholus can make a pass at Adriana’s sister, Luciana, played charmingly by Kelly Letourneau.

It only gets more entangled from there. Antipholus of Syracuse orders craftsman Balthasar, played with wit by David Bertoldi, to create a gold necklace for his wife. But Balthasar unwittingly gives the necklace to Antipholus of Ephesus, who is bewildered but takes it. When Balthasar later seeks payment from Antipholus of Syracuse, Antipholus refuses to pay claiming rightly that he never received the necklace. Balthasar has the distraught Antipholus of Syracuse arrested by an officer (Brittany Campbell) and sends Dromio to retrieve bail.

The confusion begets more confusion until all come together before the Duke, played by Pearl Rhein, who sorts it out.

When I’ve seen any twin-involved Shakespearian play, the roles have been played by actors who don’t resemble each other. This leads to a situation where the characters are confused but the audience is not.

Claire and Alanna are actually identical twins, while brothers Trent and Heath look just enough alike to add to the mayhem. So for once the audience, myself included, were just as confused as the characters.

That’s a bit unsettling when you’re a reviewer. Fortunately, there’s no need to single the Saunders Collective out: Each is incredibly talented at every aspect the performance, whether they’re acting, singing, dancing, playing instruments or performing physical gags.

With Shakespeare and older plays, it can sometimes be a bit challenging for modern audiences to process the lines. Sometimes, this is complicated by actors who get caught up in the rhythm of the iambic pentameter without adding the nuance of the meaning. But the actors all delivered performances that focused on emphasis and meaning without tripping over the meter.

Haddad particularly impressed with her performance of Adriana, using both physicality and emphasis to translate the language for contemporary theater goers.

But this isn’t a by-the-book production of The Comedy of Errors. It’s a musical reimagining. The tunes, written by Heath Saunders, were delightful, starting with the attention-grabbing opener, "For the Record 2/O, What a Day.”

The music is fresh and current. It was excellently performed by the actors with backup from musicians David Corlew, who also plays a merchant, on violin; Rhein on violin; Brittany Campbell, who plays an officer, on guitar; Sean Peter Forte on piano; and Sam Quiggins on cello/percussion.

The production runs through March 15, with Sunday matinees. Tickets are $15.

Comedy of Errors

Actors Theatre of Louisville and The Fiasco Theatre

March 4th- 15th, 2026

Bingham Theatre at Actors Theatre of Louisville

316 W Main St

Louisville KY 40202 https://www.actorstheatre.org