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The Comedy Of Errors.
 When
it comes to the works of William Shakespeare, the Bell Shakespeare
Company, headed by John Bell, do it as well as anybody, even
though - I'm surprised to find out - it's been five years since
the company was in Adelaide. That changes soon; 'The Comedy
Of Errors' opens in Adelaide in just over a week's time.
Currently, the company is in Perth, where the play has just opened, the night before I spoke with Jody Kennedy about her part in the affair.
"Our opening night was a beautiful night; the show is fast, funny and short, so everybody loved it. You get so much more energy from a fast show..." she laughs.
Kennedy plays the relatively minor role of Luciana, who is sister to Adriana, a neurotic trophy bride on her wedding day. The play is a rollicking rambunctious affair of travellers and lovers and confused circumstances, leading to a great unveiling and, in what seems to be usual Shakespearean fare, the great plot resolution, whereupon everyone goes home happy.
Kennedy's character Luciana is young, single, and to a point she is suffocated by her sister. At the same time as she is dealing with Adriana she tries to keep the peace with two twin brothers, who are the source of much of the confusion in the play.
Now, I'm no great shakes as a scholar of the Bard, but it seems in his inimitable Shakespearian way 'The Comedy Of Errors' is set in another of the far-off locales - the city of Ephesus, which is a place of magic and witchcraft, so Ross Skiffington fits into place as the comic relief.
Ephesus, surely (and I haven't gone diving to my atlas), was one of the earliest Greek settlements on the shores of Asia Minor, now in modern day Turkey. I wonder what it is about Shakespeare that he so often sought to locate his plays in places which his audience had no possible way of knowing about?
Kennedy registers a note of concern when discussing this, which is in fact Shakespeare's first play. "The characters aren't that fleshed out, it's a very plot based play," she mentions, and moves on, making sure I understand that in the hands of Bell Shakespeare Company the play has received something of a makeover.
"It's set with some contemporary edges to it, mobile phones and nail files... things like that. It's a lot of fun. The great thing about working for Bell is learning about how John does his Shakespeare, and he doesn't make you do it in Elizabethan voices or anything like that."
In a sense, Kennedy's Luciana is a 'straight' role; wherein she acts as a foil for the chaos which envelops her. "Yes, things happen around me, and I play it as an adolescent - kind of - Luciana sees the world in black and white. 'If you stick to the plan then life is simple' she says to Adriana at one point.
For Jody Kennedy life has been simple enough since she graduated from NIDA at the end of last year. It's been work, work, work... A Sydney girl, she'd been seen by John Bell in her first year at the academy, and then asked to perform in this year's remount of 'The Comedy Of Errors'. She'd performed in Sydney Theatre Company's 'Inheritance', then followed that up with a stint at Belvoir Theatre.
"I would have done anything, just to be working. Just to keep myself alive, basically," she laughs. "But I finished that and thought I would never hear from John Bell again, the timing seemed to be completely against it. It just goes to show, you never know who's going to see you."
Alex Wheaton
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'The Comedy Of Errors' opens at The Playhouse on Fri 17 Sept.
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