About the Book
Mistaken identity (which the Elizabethans called "Error") is nearly always amusing, whether on the stage or in actual life. The Comedy of Errors is a play in which this situation is developed to the extreme of improbability - but we lose sight of this improbability in the roaring fun which results. Nowadays we should call a play of this type a farce, since most of the fun comes from situations which are improbable and the play depends on these for success, rather than on characterization or dialogue. Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors draws on a much older play, Menaechmi, written by the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (254-184 B.C.).
A merchant of Syracuse has twin sons and buys twin servants for them. His wife, with one twin and one servant, is soon separated from him by a shipwreck, and comes to live in Ephesus. When grown, the other son and his slave start out to find their brothers, and the father, some years later, starts out in turn to find them. Once in Ephesus, an amusing series of errors begins. The wife takes the wrong twin for her husband, the master beats the wrong slave, the wrong son disowns his father, the twin at Ephesus is arrested instead of his brother, and the twin slave Dromio of Syracuse is claimed as a husband by a black kitchen girl of Ephesus. The situation gets more and more mixed, until at last the real identity of the strangers from Syracuse is established, and all ends happily.
Featuring the voices of Susan Iannucci, Gary MacFadden, David Shears, Dara Brown, Blaise Doran, Aisling Gray, Claudia Anglade, Kendra Murray and P.J. Morgan
About the Author :
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and dramatist of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean period, is the most widely known author in all of English literature and often considered the greatest. He was an active member of a theater company for at least twenty years, during which time he wrote many great plays. Plays were not prized as literature at the time and Shakespeare was not widely read until the middle of the eighteenth century, when a great upsurge of interest in his works began that continues today.
Susan Iannucci is a full-time narrator and voice-over actor working from California. She has been producing multi-cast productions for several years along with her own solo narrations. Pulling together multi-cast projects with actors throughout the world continues to be a great challenge and thoroughly rewarding.
Gary MacFadden is a voice talent based in western Montana, USA. He works in commercial, e-learning, explainer videos, and audiobooks. Gary has narrated and produced over forty audiobooks, and has produced another dozen books for other narrators.
A curious mix of fright-night chiller and Edwardian romp, P. J. Morgan is equally at home narrating dark thrillers and lighthearted romantic escapades. They live with their two horses and assorted house pets in Rural Lite (TM) Oregon, alternately enjoying the solitude and craving the connection of story. Narrating keeps them sane in the darkness. As a nonbinary queer storyteller, P. J. certainly knows the value of subtext and how to read between the lines for deeper meaning. The quest for meaningful representation has consumed them for the better part of three decades. P. J. has narrated over 150 titles to date for Penguin Random House, Hachette, Brilliance Audio, Audible Studios, BeeAudio, Pink Flamingo Productions, Findaway Voices, Spoken Realms, Audibly Addicted, Read Me Romance, and many independent authors. They were nominated for a Sultry Listeners Award in 2023 in the contemporary romance category. They have a background in theater, musical ensemble, and opera; several TV and film credits; and a degree in linguistics with emphases on phonetics and the French language. When not in the booth acting as a spiritual medium for the characters that possess them, P. J. spends as much time as possible outside. When the weather renders that unpleasant, they can often be found obsessively rewatching favorite shows (especially Our Flag Means Death, Severance, Killing Eve, and Hannibal), researching their Welsh and Irish heritage, learning to speak Thai, starting new craft projects, or world-building within their sci-fi trilogy WIP. Kendra Murray is an in-demand narrator with a background in film and stage acting. Dara Brown has worn many hats in their life so far, and is always making headspace to wear more. They've studied opera and classical theater, and find that the tools they've learned in those art forms translate fluidly into the creation of authentic and embodied narration. She loves play in all its forms, and believes that when we invite ourselves and others to play, we get an opportunity to look at things differently and build exciting communities and worlds together. When they're not telling stories, Dara loves using her imagination to practice energy work, teach music, compose silly songs, and to create all sorts of playful pieces of art. She lives in Rogers Park with her partner, JJ, and their beautiful angel of a cat, Waffles.
Review :
"In The Comedy of Errors we seem almost to stand again by the cradle of new-born comedy, and hear the first lisping and laughing accents run over from her baby lips in bubbling rhyme; but when the note changes we recognize the speech of gods."
-- "A Study of Shakespeare"
