Texas State to stage bilingual adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Comedy of Errors'

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
Office of Media Relations
March 23, 2017

Texas State University will present a bilingual adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic farce The Comedy of Errors August 3-9, through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Performances will be at 8 p.m. August 3-5 and 7-9, with a 1 p.m. matinee August 6 in Centennial Hall, room G 02. Admission is free and open to the public.  

The Comedy of Errors centers on two sets of twins who are separated at birth and live in different cities before being unexpectedly reunited. In this adaptation set in Cuba, all the characters from one city speak Spanish and all those from the other speak English.

“The resulting linguistic confusion adds to the humorous chaos that dominates this farcical play,” said Joe Falocco, an assistant professor in the Department of English, who co-directs the production with David Navarro, an assistant professor in the Department of Modern Languages. “More significantly, we did this because The Comedy of Errors is essentially about the quest for identity. For so many of us in the United States today, our sense of identity is divided between two languages and two cultures. This play allows the audience to explore their own connection with language through its message of multicultural reconciliation and inclusion."

Free parking is available for all performances on the roof of the Pleasant Street Garage. For further information, please contact Joe Falocco at (704) 754-2321 or via email at jf48@txstate.edu.

About Texas State University

Founded in 1899, Texas State University is among the largest universities in Texas with an enrollment of 38,849 students on campuses in San Marcos and Round Rock. Texas State’s 170,000-plus alumni are a powerful force in serving the economic workforce needs of Texas and throughout the world.  Designated an Emerging Research University by the State of Texas, Texas State is classified under “Doctoral Universities:  Higher Research Activity,” the second-highest designation for research institutions under the Carnegie classification system.