The Bomb-itty of Errors

Institute History

  • 2002 January Screenwriters Lab

Description

In this "ad-rap-tation" of Willy Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, Elizabethan times get pumped up with live hip-hop flavor. MC Egeon, a legendary MC in his time, and his wife Betty are blessed with quadruplets – two sets of identical twins. The bigger pair are both named Antipholus and the smaller pair both named Dromio (only Shakespearean logic can explain why.) Economic misfortune befalls the family, and MC Egeon and Betty are forced to give the kids up for adoption. The twins are split up: one Antipholus and one Dromio grow up in the town of Ephesus and the other Antipholus and Dromio are raised in Syracuse, each unaware of the existence of their identical twins. "They grew up living in a world of hip-hop/Surrounded by the 1-2-3 and you don't stop."

In their mid-twenties, the poorer Syracusean twins pay a visit to Ephesus, hoping to find a way to win some ducats. Little do they know that their identical counterparts are wealthy and well-known in the city. The inevitable mistaken identities quickly crop up, and the confusion and exasperation escalates quickly when Adriana, wife of Antipholus of Ephesus, mistakes the wrong Antipholus for her husband, and he in turn falls for his "wife's" sister, Luciana. And that's just the beginning—still with us?

As the confusion and hilarity builds, more and more characters are brought into the mix, including MC Hendelberg (a Hasidic rapper), a psychotic cop, a Rastafarian herbal doctor, a Californian bike messenger, Desi the hooker, and a Sports Nun, all thrown into the tumultuous tides of mistaken identity, betrayal, and love. And did we mention that four guys play all the parts? Irreverent, witty, raunchy, and with a hot soundtrack of original beats, Shakespeare's never sounded so stupidfresh!

Credits

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