The Oxford Dictionary of Plays

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The Comedy of Errors

Comedy of Errors, The

Author: William Shakespeare

First Performance: c.1591–4, London

Published: 1623

Genre: Com. in 5 acts; blank verse and prose

Setting: Ephesus, ancient Greece

Cast: 11m, 5f, extras

Aegeon, a merchant from Syracuse, is under threat of death for daring to come ashore in the hostile city of Ephesus. He reveals to the Duke that he is seeking his lost son, a twin who was separated from his brother in a shipwreck. He is granted one day's stay of execution to allow him to find his missing son. Meanwhile, his other son Antipholus and his servant Dromio arrive in Ephesus from Syracuse and are immediately mistaken for their twin brothers, confusingly also named Antipholus and Dromio, who already live in Ephesus. Confusions arise with masters giving orders to the wrong Dromio, plans to escape...

[The entire page is 373 words long]

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