The Comedy of Errors is about the farcical misadventures of two sets of identical twins. Egeon, a Syracusan merchant, had twin sons both named Antipholus. At their birth, he bought another pair of newborn twins, both named Dromio, as their servants. In a shipwreck, Egeon lost his wife, one of his sons, and one of the Dromios.
Egeon's remaining son, Antipholus of Syracuse, and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, later come to Ephesus, where—unknown to them—is the home of their lost twins. The new visitors are confused when local residents seem to know them. A series of wild mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to farcical and fantastic misunderstandings.
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humor coming from slapstick, mistaken identity, puns and word play.