William Shakespeare’s extensive works have seen plenty of facelifts throughout the last 20 years, from Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes’ turn as “star-cross’d lovers” to Julia Stiles’ in the modern remake of “Othello,” and Ethan Hawke as a troubled film student in the updated version of “Hamlet.”
But nothing comes close to the shot in the arm the bard’s “Comedy of Errors,” a tale of mixed-up identities, received when playwrights Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, GQ, and Erik Weiner flipped the script and birthed “The Bomb-itty of Errors,” a hip-hop adaptation.
“The Bomb-itty of Errors” opens tonight at Station Theatre in Urbana.
Directed by Aaron Matthew Polk, no stranger to taking the helm of Shakespeare adaptations, in “Bomb-itty”, a foursome of twins are ripped apart as kids, only to be reunited when one duo, Antipholus and Dromio, visit the city of Ephesus, where the other pair — oddly, also named Antipholus and Dromio — dwell. The fab four is back together and chaos ensues.
Local hip-hop artist Krukid (née Edwin Ruyonga), a local emcee who was plucked from the crowd for the “future of hip-hop” list Rawkus 50 created, takes the stage tonight — in a different capacity than normal — as a member of Bomb-itty’s cast.
“Bomb-itty of Errors” opens tonight and runs through May 3. All shows at 8 p.m. except two special midnight shows on Apr. 25 and May 2. The Station Theatre sits in the old train station at 223 N. Broadway Ave., Urbana. Reservations are available by calling 384-4000.