Having drunk a trance-inducing cordial, a lovely young heroine, disguised as a man, is left for dead by two cave-dwellers she doesn鈥檛 yet know are her brothers. She awakes next to the headless corpse of a man she thinks to be her husband, though he鈥檚 really the vain stepbrother who鈥檚 been trying to woo her. Still posing as a man, she鈥檚 taken into the care of the Roman ambassador who鈥檚 waging war against Britain and a huge battle soon ensues.
All this action goes down in a single scene of 鈥淐ymbeline,鈥 Shakespeare鈥檚 late and seldom-performed play in which he mashes up genres, themes and story elements from past works. Bard-spotters can have a ball matching plot points to more familiar titles 鈥 the false death is recognizable from 鈥淩omeo and Juliet,鈥 the male disguise recalls 鈥淭welfth Night鈥 and 鈥淎s You Like It,鈥 and hacked-off body parts hearken to 鈥淭itus Andronicus.鈥
The central virtue of Esther Jun鈥檚 current Stratford production of 鈥淐ymbeline鈥 is that she and her wonderful cast roll with the play鈥檚 stylistic and thematic improbabilities and excesses, embracing audience laughter as revelations pile up and leaning into the swooniness of the more fancifully romantic bits. At three hours the production feels long and the pace sometimes sags, and it鈥檚 stronger on atmosphere than on apparently clear choices around context or message. That said, it makes for an entertaining evening overall.
Jun places the story in a primordial Britain 鈥 the costumes and wigs send out some strong fantasy/鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥 vibes 鈥 in which nature is the higher power.
A well-staged early scene sets the tone: whispering voices fill the dark theatre as lights come up on a misty landscape filled with figures who do a short, lively dance (choreography by Alyssa Martin). The performers stay onstage as a soothsayer (Cynthia Jimenez-Hicks), embracing a huge tree that illuminates from within, offers Jupiter (Marcus Nance) an overview of the characters and their relationships, giving the audience a useful head start on the complicated plot lines. The stage is set for something at once moody and lighthearted.
Design work from Echo Zhou (sets and lighting), Michelle Bohn (costumes), Njo Kong Kie (musical composition) and Olivia Wheeler (sound) work together to create an earthy yet otherworldly environment, and the wigs department deserves a special shout-out for many impressively wild heads of hair.
Though not the title character, it鈥檚 the princess Innogen who is the heart of the show, and Allison Edwards-Crewe is gorgeous in the role, a young woman in love who finds her mettle as she overcomes challenges. Her mother Cymbeline (Lucy Peacock), enraged to discover that Innogen has secretly wed the low-born Posthumus (Jordin Hall), banishes him, opening the door for Cymbeline鈥檚 husband the Duke (Rick Roberts) to plot to marry Innogen to his son Cloten (Christopher Allen).
Hall steps ever further into leading man status with this confident turn as Posthumus, exhibiting impressive levels of vocal, physical and emotional expression.
In Shakespeare鈥檚 original, Cymbeline is a man, and this recasting gives Peacock an opportunity to show off her vocal and physical capacities in playing the powerful leader of a country at war. While the role doesn鈥檛 have a huge amount of stage time, Peacock makes the most of it.
While Roberts is compelling throughout as the conniving Duke, I find myself still mulling the combination of effeminate traits in his physical and vocal performance with the eventual exposition of the character鈥檚 arch-evil nature, though this seems more attributable to a lack of specificity in the production concept than an intended message about gender, sexuality and morality.
Speaking of baddies, Tyrone Savage leans gleefully into the role of the scheming Iachimo, who wagers with Posthumus that he can seduce Innogen, leading to an extended scene in which he prowls all over her bedchamber as she sleeps. This is an instance where for me the production鈥檚 lightness of touch allowed the scene to mostly sidestep disturbing implications of threatened sexual violence, not least when Innogen undercuts the menace by exiting the scene with a harrumph.
Allen, in an impressive Stratford debut, is hilariously preening as the dim-wit Cloten, and mid-career Stratford stars Irene Poole and Jonathan Goad bring brilliant clarity to their roles as the stalwart servant Pisanio and the beneficent cave-dweller Belarius, respectively. In the play鈥檚 final scene, Goad and Wahsont铆:io Kirby (as the Duke鈥檚 doctor Cornelius) show off impeccable comic timing in delivering lines in reaction to yet another plot element falling into place, inviting the audience into a circle of complicity with the play鈥檚 implausibility.
Productions of 鈥淐ymbeline鈥 don鈥檛 come along very often 鈥 Stratford鈥檚 most recent before this was in 2012, directed by then-incoming artistic director Antoni Cimolino. This staging provides a welcome complement to the better known titles in this year鈥檚 Stratford season.
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