Kneehigh's Cymbeline: RSC till 30 Sept, then touring till 10 Feb
CYMBELINE: based on William Shakespeare
Kneehigh Theatre: www.kneehigh.co.uk
Runs: 2h 45m, one interval
The Swan, Stratford: till 30 September, then touring till 10 February
Review: Rod Dungate, The Swan, 26 September 2006
Quirky; inventive; huge, huge fun – and a conundrum
I had a wonderful time watching this. I enjoyed it’s wit, energy, commitment and joyful anarchy. Imogen, reading in a letter from her absent husband that he believes she is unfaithful, screams in horror: ‘He says I’ve played the trumpet in his bed. I don’t even know how to play a trumpet.’ It’s hilarious because we know the word should be ‘strumpet’; but Imogen’s pain is no less real either. Hayley Carmichael creates this double-whammy time and time again. Her performance is riveting - naïve, quirky, fragile, 110% energised, exciting.
Kneehigh has a well-deserved reputation for innovative theatre. Here, they tear up Shakespeare’s play and reconstitute it. They offer it back to us, true to its complexities and contradictions; their production is wildly funny, but touching too. It combines horror, intrigue and the magic of fairy story.
The characters in the story may be larger than life – Iachimo a highly sexed Italian, The Queen a suspender and dark-glasses dominatrix – but the world is also populated by strange and haunted hooded figures who straddle the fence of character and stage assistant. Emma Rice’s irreverently taut production glories in these contradictions.
Indeed much of the humour stems from the collision of Shakespearean fairy-tale with our modern world. A frantic Imogen urges Pisanio to hurry up as they set off on their journey to Milton Haven: ‘I’ve got this lorry-driver. His name’s Gary – he can take us as far as Birmingham.’ (Or something very similar.) Pisanio is played by Kirsty Woodward; tall and slim (all right, skinny) she is a gloriously zany performer in this multi-talented company.
However, I see a conundrum. I would urge anyone who likes theatre to beat a path to Kneehigh’s door. Their Cymbeline is a touching romp of a performance. What it isn’t is Shakespeare. It’s based on his tale, yes, but it’s not his play. There is absolutely nothing wrong in this; it’s much to be admired, in fact. But what happens to audience members who book their occasional ticket for Shakespeare at the RSC? There were a number of seats empty around me for the second half. Those audience members are not to be blamed for being disappointed; Kneehigh is certainly not to be blamed for disappointing them. It’s indeed a conundrum.
Imogen: Hayley Carmichael
Posthumus: Carl Grose
Cloten: Craig Johnson
Brother: Dominic Lawton
Iachimo: Robert Luckay
The Queen: Emma Rice
Cymbeline: Mike Shepherd
Pisanio: Kirsty Woodward
Director and Adapter: Emma Rice
Writer: Carl Grose
Designer: Michael Vale
Musical Director and Composer: Stu Barker
Lighting Designer: Malcolm Rippeth
Sound Designer: Gregory Clarke
Assistant Director: Simon Harvey
Cornish Clog Dance Training: Karen Lockley-Brown
2006-09-27 15:15:36