The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare  (1987)

Performed Live at Lincoln Center New York City by The Flying Karamazov Brothers
Original production at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago  (1983)  then in Los
Angeles in 1984.

Recording date: 1987  No IMDb

Directed by Robert Woodruff

The credit roll has details too numerous to note here. Theatre historians should
find that valuable.

Full production run time is approximately 2 hrs with an interval which I added.

Quality of the source is fair.  My re-code was made in a smaller size for easy
download.  The sound is a bit out of synchronization.  This can be corrected in
VLC media player with the "J" and "K" keys on your keyboard.  My sample viewing
showed +600 microseconds (ms) was usable.  Your VLC screen displays that information.

An encode of a dvd ISO file was previously available and has lapsed in the
file shares.   My thanks to the original uploader.  

Notes begin:

This is an experiment in theatre.

From the Wikipedia extensive entry:

  "The Karamazovs performed a unique, broad adaptation of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors at Lincoln Center. Aired live on the PBS program Live from Lincoln Center, on June 24, 1987, the Karamazovs were joined by such "new vaudeville" acts as Avner the Eccentric and members of the troupe Vaudeville Nouveau. The (at the time) five members of the Karamazovs all played major roles: Patterson and Magid as the twins Antipholus, Nelson and Williams as the twins Dromio, and Furst as William Shakespeare himself. Their modern farcical take on the play managed to incorporate everything from juggling, acrobatics and faux knife-throwing to gospel, jazz and a cross-dressing brothel madam. Many jokes made reference to American culture of the 1980s."

  COE combines Shakespearean text with circus, vaudeville and low jokes of all kinds.  It comes from the 1980's and the viewer is cautioned that,  even at Lincoln Center, some of the performance might be considered in bad taste.  That's my warning but the show has my full recommendation for style and innovation.

  The credit roll notes that eight cameras were used for this live performance television production.  I see it as an example of what television could have  been before the dvd presentations from The Globe on Screen and National Theatre Live that we have today.

  Comedy of Error by the Flying Karamazov Brothers and Company is worth preserving and eminently fun to watch.  If anyone has access to the original tape it should be restored and accessible via dvd for libraries everywhere.

Notes written December 23, 2016

    Just looking up a photo image to add I was amazed at how much is still available on this performance.

I've added the Hirschfeld drawing from the period.


    I'm adding this to my new index at Torrent Galaxy because I saw that
an existing torrent was failing to handshake.  This new torrent is needed  regardless
as a priceless classic and I'm doing it now to see if seeding is again possible.


 New note March 29th 2020