Shakespeare's early and shortest comedy is infinitely malleable, surviving assaults that have successfully turned it into a circus show, a hip-hop opera and a Keystone Cops farcical chase.
John Bell's production for the Australian Bell company, invited here as part of the Bath Shakespeare Festival, is no less exuberant. Its energy comes from the headlong rush to have it done and dusted in just 100 minutes, a fully justified decision that ensures that Shakespeare's lightest confection doesn't sink under the weight of too much comic over-egging.
Bell takes the comment of Antipholus of Syracuse that Ephesus is "a town full of conjurors" as his starting point. This city, where the two sets of separated twins come face to face in a series of dislocating encounters that cause chaos and havoc, is full of sidewalk magicians and strange masked figures. This is all good and rather creepy, but Bell and designer Jennie Tate never develop this idea and offer only an Ephesus that looks like old Baghdad in a panto version of Aladdin.
Does this matter? Not if you want to get the gist of the story - which Bell presents with admirable clarity - and enjoy the show as a full-pelt romp. But Bell's approach means that there is not enough at stake and the show has no satisfying emotional resolution in the final reunion of the two sets of twins. It is a farce and nothing more.
On its own terms the show must be counted a success, seducing the audience with its magic tricks, candyfloss-coloured costumes and enormous sense of fun. It is also spoken with real ease and without the kind of affectation that sometimes infects English actors when performing Shakespeare. But the non-stop comedy gets a little wearing and can't disguise the lack of real emotion at the show's heart.
· Until Saturday. Box office: 01225 448844. Then touring.
