One of Shakespeare's favorite themes was the "separation at birth" tragedy: siblings, torn apart by happenstance, somehow find each other later, but only after a series of narrow misses, unlikely coincidences and often hilarious mishaps. "The Comedy of Errors," believed to be one of Shakespeare's first plays, is this concept on steroids.

Two sets of twins are born, one rich (Antipholus) and one poor (Dromio). The poor parents give up their sons to the rich family for a better life; they're to act as manservants to the rich twins. During a sea mishap, the rich parents are separated from one another. The mother gets one rich and one poor baby, and the father gets the other set. Further down the line, the father and mother are separated from the children altogether. So each set of boys-a rich boy and his servant-is on his own, until both end up in the same town and are constantly mistaken for each other, for better or, often, for worse.

As good as the writing is, though, it depends solely on the performers to carry off these often fantastic plot twists in a believable manner. Shakespeare's plays are performed often; performing them well is done all too infrequently.

The young actors in the Senior Repertory Company at New Hampshire Theatre Project not only perform it well, they pull it off with aplomb. Their understanding of the Bard's humor and centuries-old situations seems second nature, and their abilities to convey the emotions and frustrations of each silly predicament (which they take deadly seriously, to perfect effect) are among the best this reviewer has ever seen in her 30-plus years of theater-going.

Director Genevieve Aichele is to be heralded for this achievement. She's worked with her young pupils until the iambic pentameter flows off their tongues as though they'd heard it from the cradle. What must have been a long and patient rehearsal process has produced an evident love of the Shakespearean text that shows in the delightful way the actors perform his work, from their staging and their body language to their speech to their composure.

The entire cast was strong, with literally not a weak link in the entire 21-person cast, but the text gives both sets of Antipholuses (Greg Gould and Matt Camp) and Dromios (Nell Finnegan and Rachel Sacks), in particular, plenty of time to work their considerable magic on us. Greg Gould is suave and moves with a worldly, romantic grace while his counterpart, Nell Finigan, bops up and down like an adorably funny punching doll. Rachel Sacks brings her Dromio so thoroughly to life, it's as though she's stepped into the character's Italian Renaissance skin.

Robin Fowler as Eegon is paternal and subtle. Elizabeth Fineberg-Lombardi as Adriana is half maternal shrew, half spoiled girl. Emma Aldrich's Luciana is elegantly humble and passionate by turns. Lauren Thompson as the courtesan is enchanting beyond her years.

Don't think of a performance of the Senior Rep at New Hampshire Theatre Project as children's theater. These fully fledged performers hold their own against any of their colleagues in the Seacoast area and beyond.