While many suggestions that the works of William Shakespeare were written by one or more other writers veer between the far-fetched and the ludicrous, there is a general acceptance that some of the plays attributed to the Bard might have been co-authored projects.
The Adventure of Pericles fits firmly into that category, the writing and plotting being highly inconsistent, as is the quality, while the episodic nature of the work lending itself to shared authorship.
Stratford Festival has a way of turning Shakespeare’s weaker works into enjoyable productions. That is exactly what director Scott Wentworth achieves in this lively rendering of The Adventures of Pericles. In doing so, he is backed up by a hard-working and talented cast, most taking multiple roles.
Wentworth doesn’t shy away from the broken nature of a picaresque story that sometimes takes on almost an Arthurian scope as poor Prince Pericles of Tyre fights and wins, loves and loses, while both he and his lost daughter Marina get gulled by what might today be described as “bad actors”, if that were not a gross insult to the performers in this two-hour 40-minute presentation.
The play opens with a Victorian Gothic look courtesy of designer Patrick Clark, who generally favours darkness, highlighting many candles that provide a backdrop to an evening that is also embellished by song, frequently led by a team of narrating nuns.
The designer favours simplicity, replacing many prospective props with the viewers’ imaginations, a method that proves especially effective in shipboard scenes.
There is spectacle (and even light) as Pericles enters a mass cod-Arthurian comical brawl, as a result of which our hero wins the hand of wife Thaisa, portrayed by Deborah Hay.
The action is as varied as the presentation, with tales of incest and murder, contrasted with romantic scenes featuring knights of old, Shakespearean tropes of lost wives and children plus comedy and pathos as orphaned, angelic Marina, also played by Deborah Hay, first finds herself rescued from one kind of devil, exemplified by a sinisterly eye-catching performance from Claire Lautier as Dionyza, only to end up in the hands of pirates and then sleazy pimps and panders.
While all of this is going on, Evan Bullung’s eponymous Pericles is in the pit of despair, close to suicidal and eventually enduring in monastic silence, waiting for the kind of dénouement that only William Shakespeare can pull off.
The Adventure of Pericles may be a relatively minor work, but Scott Wentworth has delivered a compelling interpretation that is well worth catching for both its rich entertainment value and the way in which the work borrows from and shines a light on some of Shakespeare’s greater hits.
This video is available on the newly revamped and relaunched Stratfest@home web site. The library is expanded and the pricing reduced to £6.44 per month or £64.47 per annum. It is a great treasure trove that will give fans of high-quality theatre hours of pleasure.