review

"We're doing a comedy, people!," an actor shouts amid the crafted chaos that opens this newly adapted romantic farce. "Nothing is more important than a comedy in times like these!"

The ability to laugh at your misfortunes, we're often told, is an invaluable trait. So what better times than these to test that proposition?

The plot revolves -- well, more like spins feverishly -- around the absurdly complicated circumstances keeping two pairs of lovers apart and the role of the servant Truffaldino (a role for an artful clown, handled with infectious energy by Mark Bedard) in bringing everything to a happy conclusion. Truffaldino's real goal, though, is to fill the void of meaning in his life, either by becoming the best servant in the world or -- failing that -- with food.

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