It’s witty, funny, bold and at times irreverent. It’s Shakespeare as you’ve never seen or heard him before as the LAB Space closes out the year with Bomb-itty of Errors, a hip-hop version of the Bard’s The Comedy of Errors. It’s a show that you won’t want to miss.
Two sets of identical twins, Antipholus and Dromio, are separated at birth and raised in the different cities of Syracuse and Ephesus. The complications begin when the Syracuse Antipholus and Dromio, as joyful vagabonds, come to sedate Ephesus where they are both mistaken for their similarly named counterparts and quickly become enmeshed in their affairs.
Director Brook Hall has put together a strong cast of Steve Coetzee and Airy Liu (劉怡伶), the Syracuse Antipholus and Dromio, and Meg Anderson and Charlie Storrar, the Ephesus Antipholus and Dromio, to carry this delightful farce.
Photo courtesy of Antonella Gismundi
From here on in, one needs a touch of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “willing suspension of disbelief.”
In Shakespeare’s day, men played the women’s roles and actors spoke in iambic pentameter. Rap is often iambic tetrameter and the real delight of this play is the versatility shown by the four leads as they take on multiple roles and rap in style.
Everyone will have his/her favorite scenes. For this writer, it is Hasidic Hendelberg (Coetzee) getting lost in his own rap.
Another is when Storrar as Luciana is alarmingly “courted” by Syracuse Antipholus (Coetzee) whom “she” thinks is her sister’s husband.
Kudos go to costume designer Jenna Robinette, set designer Joseph Lark-Riley and show sponsorship from the Department of Culture, Taipei City Government. Not only are multiple costumes needed but ones that can come off and on in a split second as characters exit one door and return through another.
Lark-Riley’s graffiti-laced set provides the multiple entrances and exits as well as a visible balcony for “beat man,” DJ Cross Cutz (Cedric Bouadzi), who regularly interacts with the cast below.
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Charges have formally been brought in Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) bribery, corruption and embezzling of campaign funds cases. Ko was briefly released on bail by the Taipei District Court on Friday, but the High Court on Sunday reversed the decision. Then, the Taipei District Court on the same day granted him bail again. The ball is in dueling courts. While preparing for a “year ahead” column and reviewing a Formosa poll from last month, it’s clear that the TPP’s demographics are shifting, and there are some indications of where support for the party is heading. YOUNG, MALE
When the weather is too cold to enjoy the white beaches and blue waters of Pingtung County’s Kenting (墾丁), it’s the perfect time to head up into the hills and enjoy a different part of the national park. In the highlands above the bustling beach resorts, a simple set of trails treats visitors to lush forest, rocky peaks, billowing grassland and a spectacular bird’s-eye view of the coast. The rolling hills beyond Hengchun Township (恆春) in Pingtung County offer a two-hour through-hike of sweeping views from the mighty peak of Dajianshih Mountain (大尖石山) to Eluanbi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔) on the coast, or
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