(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors will be screened at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on Thursday, March 1, 2012, at 7 p.m. (and at 2 p.m. at The Clark in Williamstown, Mass.) as part of the London National Theatre Live in HD series. This new production, directed by the Royal Court’s Artistic Director Dominic Cooke, places the action of the play in a contemporary setting and stars popular UK comedian Lenny Henry making his National Theatre debut, playing Antipholus of Syracuse.

After a long career making people laugh, Lenny Henry made his Shakespearean debut in the title role of the Northern Broadside’s production of Othello, which played in London in 2009 and earned him the 2009 Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer Award.

In Comedy of Errors, two sets of twins separated at birth collide in the same city without meeting for one crazy day, as multiple mistaken identities lead to confusion on a grand scale. And for no one more so than Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio who, in search of their brothers, arrive in a land entirely foreign to their distant home. A buzzing metropolis, to the outsiders it appears a place of wonderment and terror, where baffling gifts and unexplained hostilities abound.

Consistently recognised by strangers, the visitors question their very selves as the turmoil escalates. Meanwhile, Aegeon, father to the Antipholus twins, has been captured searching for his sons and, as an illegal immigrant, is sentenced to death at sunset.

The production will be screened live from the Olivier Theatre on London’s South Bank. The play runs approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, including interval.

Over his career, Lenny Henry has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement – Performance Award at the 2003 British Comedy Awards and a Golden Rose at the Montreux Television Festival.