Playwright: William Shakespeare,

adapted by Barbara Gaines and Ron West

At: Chicago Shakespeare Theatre

at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand

Phone: 312-595-5600; $44-$70

Runs through: June 29

BY MARY SHEN BARNIDGE

Of all Shakespeare’s plays needing—take a deep breath, now—a gimmick to sell it to modern audiences, The Comedy Of Errors ranks among the list-toppers. Based on Plautus’ The Menaechmi (premiering circa 150 B.C.), the plot is premised wholly on the unlikely circumstance of a pair of long-lost identical twin brothers and their likewise twin-sib valets suddenly thrown together in the same city, their adventures thereat encompassing many complications and inconveniencing many characters—one is rescued from execution in the nick of time—until a happy ending is finally resolved.

Past productions have embellished this one-note gag with exotic locales and colloquial translations, but Barbara Gaines and Ron West’s adaptation goes a step further, surrounding the familiar scenario with a concept so imaginative and engaging that we barely notice the original text. Our setting is an English motion-picture studio in 1940, where a diminished staff is concentrating on filming a panto-style staging of—you guessed it—Shakespeare’s Comedy Of Errors, to be distributed among the troops in Europe as a morale effort. This framing device provides us with, in addition to the slapstick inherent in the source material (including the obligatory transvestite turn), laughs stemming from the company’s male artists being solely those unfit for military service (except for an American pop singer, presently enlisted in the RAF, assigned to guest-star duty), from the limited production budget necessitated by wartime rationing; the interruptions while everyone takes cover during enemy air raids; the homeland-security surveillance engendered by same; and the usual star temperaments and backstage peccadilloes.

But even with its insider giggles over certain key characters’ resemblance to actual personalities (Vivien Leigh, John Gielgud et al.), Gaines and West’s goal is not simply a big-budget replica of a Canteen Comedy. Beneath the copious hi-jinks of the play-within and the play-without lies the comforting prospect of a diverse band of citizens—did I mention the flatulence-humor clown act that somehow ends up in the show?—triumphing over social disorder. Their up-and-at-em spirit is reflected in the performances of an all-star cast (even the small roles filled by A-list players) assembled for this Chicago Shakespeare Theatre production. Coming at the beginning of the tourist season, this lively take-off on a classic has all the potential to become an extended summer hit.