Review: PERICLES, Swan Theatre - RSC
Photo credit: Johan Persson
The Swan Theatre has its own unique atmosphere from the ruins of the original Shakespeare Memorial Theatre with its wooden galleries on three sides of the thrust stage decorated for Pericles with lines of ropes and metal globes. You can imagine yourself in this more intimate setting in 1607 waiting for another new Shakespeare play to begin. In fact, this production, Tamara Harvey’s first as director since becoming the RSC’s new co-Artistic Director, is now thought to be a play of two halves, partially explaining its exclusion from the First Folio. The first two acts set at sea and in Tyre, Antioch, Tarsus and Pentapolis are thought to have been written by George Wilkins, and the last three Acts in Ephesus and Mytilene by Shakespeare himself. It has not been produced by the RSC for eighteen years and so it is exciting to freshly discover the play.
Of course, its less frequent production may be because of Wilkin’s more prose like writing which is not a match for Shakespeare’s poetic command of the language, or because its multiple locations creates the feel of an epic travelogue with multiple characters. In its original form, it uses Gower with over 300 lines of narration to the story. Harvey brings a wonderful clarity to the narrative with her edits combining Gower with Marina as a consistent thread explaining her father, Pericles, physical and emotional journey. With Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster’s engaging movement and tableaux and Claire Van Kampen’s delightful musical interventions, Harvey creates a visual delight and how we imagine a rowdy Stratford upon Avon groundling might have been kept engaged in the storytelling when first staged.
Alfred Enoch is magnificent as Pericles, commanding the stage on every entrance but showing his caring emotional side at the loss of his wife and newborn daughter which makes the eventual (spoiler alert) reunion all the more powerful. Christian Patterson brings all of his experience as an actor, writer, director and one of the leading pantomime dames to the role of Simonides. His joyous stage presence and lovely comic timing and asides is a masterclass in audience engagement and a delight to watch and laugh with. There is solid support too from Philip Bird as the Loyal Helicanus who rules Tyre in Pericles absence, from Felix Hayes as the incestuous Antiochus, from Jacqueline Boatswain as the physician Cerimon and Bawd, the Mytilene brothel keeper, and Kel Matsena as Lysimachus, the honourable governor of Mytilene.
Rachelle Diedericks is the constant watching presence of the narrator who emerges as the virtuous and innocent Marina who, together with Leah Haile as Thaisa, daughter of Simonides, gives the story heart and emotion. Marina’s hesitant revelation of her history to a broken Pericles provides a wonderful conclusion to their spiritual and physical journeys. Of course, the story of Tempests, resurrection, despair, incest and murder is far fetched but Harvey makes it accessible, comical, visually interesting and entertaining. Scenes are overlapped to give it fluidity and the upstage tableaux give a sense of the different places the tale takes us and their people with the simplest of costume changes. It is a medieval morality tale of good versus evil and of virtue and innocence overcoming tragedy and wrongdoing.
The RSC’s stated mission is to “ensure Shakespeare is for everyone, unlocking the power of his plays and live performance” and following the success of As You Like It in the outdoor venue, this new production of Pericles bodes well for the new leadership of the RSC. Presenting his work with freshness, creativity and imagination, willing to tinker with weak elements but not feeling the need to reinvent or rewrite works that have survived successfully for over 400 years in an attempt to make them more relevant to modern audience or simply different from how it has been staged before. Pericles may not rank as one of his greatest plays to Shakespeare purists, but Tamara Harvey’s wonderful production makes it accessible and visually appealing, and is exactly what the RSC should be staging.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
Pericles plays at the RSC’s Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon until 21 September, with further info here.