Shakespeare's goofiest play benefits not only from a lively cast but also from Hope Alexander's consistently creative direction, which applies a tweaking of pop culture onto the play -- a device well utilized simply to make more of the jokes clearer to a modern audience. Alexander cleverly turns a dense bit of opening exposition into a very funny video and similarly transforms a thorny chunk of badinage into a TV quiz show finale. The story follows two pairs of twins (one master, one servant each) separated at birth by a shipwreck. Antipholus (Joe Garcia) and his man Dromio (Brandon Ford Green) have gone traveling to Ephesus in search of their matching long-lost twins. While there, they are constantly mistaken for longtime locals Antipholus (John Edwin Shaw) and Dromio (Stephen Brewster), and mayhem ensues. Green steals the show by combining both verbal dexterity and physical clowning with the high-energy farce that this play requires. Brewster is also quite good, emphasizing slapstick. Meanwhile, both Shaw and Garcia do strong work as the two befuddled masters, and Peter Brooke is very amusing as the Duke of the Ephesus, here reimagined as a self-satisfied director. Company Rep at the American Renegade Theater, 11136 Magnolia Blvd., N. Hlywd.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru June 15. (818) 506-7550.