CYMBELINE: Shakespeare, US tour to Stratford till 8 December

CYMBELINE: William Shakespeare
Theatre for a New Audience touring from US till 8 December 2001
The Other Place: Tkts, 01789 403403

Runs: 3h 15m, one interval
Review: Rod Dungate, 1 December 2001

The production embraces the story's implausibility with joy – the play has an invigorating directness: a wonderful early Christmas present from the US
Director Bartlett Sher painlessly merges folk traditions of the UK and the US and weaves, in with this rich text, a tale that has the same complex relationship with real life as Country and Western music, can tug the hearts strings just as powerfully and has, at times, the same gently ironic tone.

CYMBELINE on the page can seem a bit daft – long lost sons, banished lovers, run away daughters, wicked stepmothers . . . But these are only as daft as fairy stories, and fairy stories deal with our deep seated fears and desires. So Sher makes a virtue of the story-telling: his stage is almost bare (a simple red platform), props minimal but always purposeful.

In this historically dressed production there are two modern bow-tie-wearing story tellers (looking for all the world like American literature professors). They pop in and out of the story, hold doors open for actors, take small but significant roles in which they often say what we would want to say. They are our bridge and our conscience. Philip Goodwin and Thomas M Hammond merge into the background – never quite to the fore, they, nevertheless, make the story happen.

Erica N Tazel's Imogen, is a passionate woman with a clear and musical voice. When she learns of her lover's treachery she brings her performance near to tragedy and you wonder how Shakespeare will sort it all out.

Once she leaves the Court she enters the Wild West. This is inspired – British and Americans share this folk setting, albeit that our knowledge owes much to Hollywood. Earl Hindman (Belarius), Peter Starrett (Guiderius) and Roderick Hill (Arviragus) are so full of downright, homespun goodness they make this episode work. Their kindness and gallantry are all the more remarkable because of the man's-world setting.

Fairy stories need happy endings, they are expected and necessary – CYMBELINE is no exception. The company captures its tone because the actors believe in the ending, they believe in its hope for a better world. Laughs flow easily when they should and hearts are moved when they should be moved.

Sher has pulled off a real coup. He distances us from the story and embraces its implausibility with joy so giving the play has an invigorating directness. The medium is not the message but the telling of the medium is.

Cast:
Cymbeline: Robert Stattel
Cloten: Andrew Weems
Posthumus Leonatus: Michael Stuhlbarg
Belarius: Earl Hindman
Guiderius: Pete Starrett
Arviragus: Roderick Hill
Iachimo: Harry Lennix
Caius Lucius: Ezra Knight
Pisanio: Peter Francis James
Queen: Randy Danson
Imogen: Erica N Tazel
Posthumus' long-dead Mother: Sophia Salguero
Storyteller: Philip Goodwin
Storyteller: Thomas M Hammond
Captains, Senators, Ladies in Waiting, Lords, Gaolers, Soldiers: Wayne Kasserman, Sophia Salguero

Director: Bartlett Sher
Lighting and Set Design: Christopher Akerlind
Costume Design: Elizabeth Caitlin Ward
Composer/ Sound Design: Peter John Still

2001-12-02 12:13:32