THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

★★★

“Stand out performance of the night goes to Enzo Benvenuti”

The Boys From Syracuse playing Upstairs at the Gatehouse, is a pared down production of the 1938 hit by Rodgers and Hart, with everyone doubling up on roles.

The musical is based on Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors, when two sets of identical twins Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse (John Faal in the dual role) were separated as children from each other in a shipwreck; along with their servants, both named Dromio (Brendan Matthew in the dual role). When the pair from Syracuse come to Ephesus, a comedy of errors and mistaken identities ensues when the wives of the Ephesians, Adriana (Caroline Kennedy) and her servant Luce (Karen Wilkinson), mistake the two strangers for their husbands. Adriana’s sister Luciana (Georgie Faith) and the Syracuse Antipholus fall in love. But all ends happily with some fun puppetry!

This is a silly musical set in Roman times, you know it’s old Italy because the tiled adverts on the set include Rent A Chariot. The songs are classics including Falling In Love With Love and This Can’t Be Love. All the cast have good voices and in act two, the female trio of Adriana, Luciana and Luce perform Sing For Your Supper, with clear and strong harmonies which is a delight.

Stand out performance of the night goes to Enzo Benvenuti as both the Duke and the Sergeant – his smile inducing characters played with comedy and verve.

Directed by Mark Giesser, the pace meant in the most part the comedy did not sparkle. The costumes (Alice McNicholas) were distracting as you tried to work out the differences between the complicatedly patterned bright waistcoats, which did not help to differentiate the twins with ease – making it harder to separate who was who. The accents did also drop at times which did not help either.

The set was simple with the comedic tiled backdrop and one platform. However, the unnecessary three “marble” boxes were continually moved by the cast for no reason, adding nothing to the production at all. And the stand alone single front door on wheels, was an embarrassment for poor John Faal, when his Antipholus of Ephesus is locked out of his house, and bangs and tries to open it. But the door just moved and wobbled horribly. Maybe try to turn it into a comedy moment by moving the door back and forth on its wheels with purpose?

The five piece band, a fantastic luxury in such a small space, was led by Musical Director Benjamin Levy on the piano. Some of the songs felt they could have been slightly more up tempo, but it was a tight team of musicians with a good sound balance with the cast.

Upstairs at the Gatehouse is known for putting on big musical theatre shows, and some clearly work better in the space with a small cast, than others.

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

Reviewed on 6th September 2024

by Debbie Rich

Photography by Flavia Fraser-Cannon

Previously reviewed at this venue:

TOM LEHRER IS TEACHING MATH AND DOESN’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU | ★★ | May 2024

IN CLAY | ★★★★★ | March 2024

SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD | ★★★ | February 2024

YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN | ★★ | December 2023

THIS GIRL – THE CYNTHIA LENNON STORY | ★★ | July 2023

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE

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