This Friday and Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, MATC Performing Arts presents Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors at the Truax campus’s Mitby Theater. The story takes place in the city of Ephesus and involves the comic mishaps that take place when Antipholus and his servant Dromio, both of Syracuse, are mistaken for their long-lost identical twins, residents of Ephesus also named Antipholus and Dromio.

Scenic designer Frank Schneeberger, costume designer Rebecca Sites, and makeup designer Dawn Marie Svanoe have given the production quite a distinctive and fun look. Antipholus of Syracuse’s confusion over being mistaken for his twin causes him to wonder if he’s in a dream or some other fantastical world, and the play’s overall look makes imaginative use of distortions and fanciful elements.

The set, which resembles the accompanying graphic, displays a myriad of vivid colors and odd angles (with images of playing card suits added to the mix). The makeup design around characters’ eyes is dramatic and mask-like. Many costumes feature asymmetrical and surreal designs and accessories. In the first scene, for example, the Duke of Ephesus carries a pole topped with what appears to be one of the melting clocks from Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory. His prisoner, father of the Antipholuses (I’m glad I’m writing this rather than talking about it on the podcast) wears a robe comprising fragments of about eight different garments.

There’s also a percussionist onstage to provide comic, Looney Tunes-style sound effects for activities like the frequent slapstick beatings both Dromios receive. And adding to the “world gone mad” is the fact that a casual observer in the audience would have no difficulty distinguishing the Antipholus twins.

Some of the actors fell into what felt to be a bit of a recitative mode with the verse but others were adept enough at making the language come across as natural. Highlights for me included Megan DeRosia and Allison Phillips as Antipholus of Ephsesus’ wife Adriana and sister-in-law Luciana. It’s a testament to Shakespeare’s language and DeRosia’s talents that she can make Adriana’s first scene with Antipholus of Syracuse sexy while wearing a dress that looks like a castle and a turret hat with a flag on top.

The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s early plays and the final scene takes a little more time to wrap up than one would like: sometimes Shakespeare isn’t exactly Shakespeare. But with one final surprise revelation (a surprise if you don’t read the penultimate sentence of the summary included in the program, that is), the ending is a happy one for all involved.