The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays, believed to have been written between 1592 and 1594. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and wordplay.
The play was staged by the Idaho Shakespeare Company over the summer of 2009 and Jane played the part of Emelia. It was set in modern times in Rio de Janiero at the Mardis Gras and in addition to acting and interpreting the bards intricate wordplay it required a high level of dancing and singing skills.
To quote a review and interview in the Idaho Statesman newspaper, "As all the screwball antics of mistaken identities unwind at the end of Idaho Shakespeare Festival's "Comedy of Errors," there comes one sincere moment. It is when husband and wife, Egeon and Emilia, reunite after decades apart, thinking the other was dead. The moment usually gets buried in most productions of this play.
 "It's wonderful for the younger actors to see this woman step into a role and make it her own," said Dudley Swetland, who plays Emilia's long-lost husband, Egeon. "I think she does a great job. I wish I had more time with her on stage." "The standard of acting is amazingly high and we could take this production straight into London and New York, without any problem," added Jane."
"The play itself is terrific, funny and fun. This production is set in Rio de Janiero in Mardis Gras, modern times. So it’s loud and lively. I am enjoying the rehearsals a lot. The whole cast is on stage at the beginning, dancing and singing and dance practice was rather exhausting and I thought I was in pretty good shape. Still – we have some real dancers in the cast and most of the actors are a bit younger than I am, but I am determined to keep up!"
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The production was very complex, both set and sound wise, with many crowd scenes and was staged in the 760 seat, state-of-the-art open-air ampitheatre which is home to the Idaho Shakespeare festival.
"It has been wonderful to play Shakespeare again after many years and revisit the pleasure of his characterizations and his language. I previously played ‘Perdita’ in ‘A Winter’s Tale’ on television and Portia in the National Youth Theatre’s ‘Julius Caesar’, not enough Shakespeare in a career as long as mine. But maybe I will get lucky again in the future.
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