THE CLOCK IS UP.
THE CLOCK IS UP. I noticed driving past today a large clock prominently displayed on the set that Shakespeare on the Sound has erected two blocks down the hill from our house for THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. I noticed the clock because I have been happily reading in Marjorie Garber’s SHAKESPEARE AFTER ALL, which has wonderful essays on each of Shakespeare’s plays. (I say “reading in” because I am starting with the essays on plays I have seen). Garber points out the importance of time in COMEDY OF ERRORS. The play opens with a man being threatened with execution unless he can come up with a required ransom by five that afternoon. Events in the play constantly refer to the approaching deadline. It is nice to think of the play as a forerunner of HIGH NOON and RUN, LOLA, RUN. Garber makes a major point: “The threat of death frames all Shakespearean comedy…..Comedy exists in a privileged space, poised between darkness and darkness.” She also discusses a famous 1938 production which featured a large clock with moving hands. This is opening night and the performance begins in less than an hour. The clock is ticking.