Finding entertainment in Shakespeare comedy

sir – Ben Lawrence (Arts, August 14) asks whether Shakespeare’s comedies can still make us laugh.

Do they have to? If comedies can have us rolling in the aisles with laughter, fine.

But in the history of drama, “comedy” could be seen as a genre that did not end tragically.

In a good production, Shakespeare’s comedies can still entertain – particularly if an audience member has already familiarised himself or herself beforehand by reading the play in a good annotated edition.

James Murray

Ballymena, Co Antrim

Knockabout farce: a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Comedy of Errors