When Georgina Evans and I started planning this tour we knew we were in for a treat, but we didn’t know quite how much we’d love The Comedy of Errors until we saw the show come together this summer.

For those who might not be familiar with CAST, it stands for the Cambridge American Stage Tour and it’s a theatre society at the University of Cambridge which annually tours a Shakespeare play, alongside educational workshops, to schools and theatres across the United States of America. This year we took The Comedy of Errors and performed at six different venues across the East Coast of America and the Cayman Islands before returning for our home run this week at the ADC Theatre.

Adapted and directed by Jess Murdoch and Maya Yousif, this production sets The Comedy of Errors at the birthday party of Antipholus of Ephesus. After being separated as infants, two sets of identical twins with identical names finally find themselves in the same place at the same time. Following years of travelling the world in search of their missing halves, Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio arrive in Ephesus (unknown to them, the home of their long-lost siblings). Standing in the way of their reunion, however, is a chaotic series of mistaken identities, confusion, and a fair amount of cake.

From her first application we were really excited by Jess’s concept for the show. As she describes: “setting The Comedy of Errors on the day of the twins’ 25th birthday just seemed right; it fits perfectly with not only the script but the entire spirit of the production. The fancy dress adds to the confusion over identity and the fun of the party brings a silliness and playfulness that is at the heart of the show.”

“No one took themselves too seriously, no question or idea was too stupid, nor any risk too bizarre.”

This fun ethos was reflected throughout the audition and rehearsal process, which was lovely to watch. No one took themselves too seriously, no question or idea was too stupid, nor any risk too bizarre. The benefit of touring a comedy means you take that with you, not least because you have lots of funny people on the team. As James Rodgers, who plays Dromio of Ephesus, describes: “the only problem is that I find my other cast members far too amusing for my own good!”

No two productions were ever the same. The cast were incredible at keeping it fresh every night, adding in extra things, working with the audience, and improvising around any errors (get it?). The best part for me, though, was getting to watch the audience’s reactions every time; being excited for when certain moments came up and seeing the ways different people engaged with the show. For example, when students at Columbia College would join in with choruses of “you go girl” when Adriana was being particularly sassy, or when kids in Rochester would stand on their chairs to cheer on the characters’ reunion at the end.

Kathy from Rappahannock County, Virginia, even described The Comedy of Errors as the best CAST show she’d seen in the past six years, though, to be fair, it’s not hard for the show to be a crowd pleaser when it includes a rendition of Beyoncé’s "If I Were a Boy’. After all, it wouldn’t be a party without a banging soundtrack, would it? Jess and Maya used this to great effect by choreographing amazing dance numbers and scene transitions that had the audience, no matter what age, bopping along as they watched.

The show simply wouldn’t be as gorgeous as it is without our whole production team: there are moments where the lighting from Ruth Harvey gets an impressed whoop every time; Theo Heymann and Georgia Humphrey created a set which looked incredible in every venue; and no one would have been able to change into their multitude of costumes without Georgia running around like a madman backstage.

At the end of the tour last week, people asked me if I would do it again. Often my answer would depend on whether someone had just lost their boarding pass or left their phone on the bus (Jamie), but all in all I can safely say I would absolutely do it all over again if I could, just to get the chance to keep putting on this fantastic show with such a wonderful group of people.

Ultimately, we felt like a really cohesive team, where people genuinely wanted to help and support each other, which was in part thanks to people just being lovely but also because the show was worth it. So come and see The Comedy of Errors this week and I guarantee that you will fall in love with the show and the team as much as I have.