Recent revivals of this play have often stressed the darker aspects of Shakespeare’s comedy of identical twins and mistaken identity. That was probably never going to happen with this pint-sized version of the play adapted by the NT’s deputy artistic director, Ben Power and intended for eight to 12-year-olds. It’s not quite sun, sea and sangria, but it’s largely a romp in Bijan Sheibani’s good-natured but sometimes laboured production. This is a play that is often at its funniest when it’s played deadpan.
There are some engaging performances, a fruitful dynamic in a production designed on the square with the audience on all four sides, and plenty of slapstick humour involving plastic pink flamingos and palm trees. But even the cartoon-style violence, while neatly done, reinforces the traditional servant-master relationships rather than questioning them for a young, contemporary audience. There’s a similar lack of thought in the portrayal of gender relationships and female characters, although Katie Elin-Salt makes a spirited Luciana.
Most damagingly, by excising Aegeon’s quest for his lost son, and the peril he faces for entering Ephesus, the final glorious scene when the family is reunited never earns the emotional clout it merits. This production will mostly tour to schools, and perhaps within an educational context it might gain a sense of purpose it lacks in a public setting.
It’s perfectly pleasant, but children deserve the very best stagings, not merely the adequate. Particularly when what’s on offer could well be their first taste of Shakespeare. In trying too hard to please, this production loses emotional clarity, depth and meaning and risks patronising rather than opening eyes and ears to a farcical comedy. One that instinctively understands how easily our fragile sense of self can be undermined, and how that way madness lies.
• At National Theatre (temporary space), London, until 6 November. Box office: 020-7452 3000
