A few months back, chatting about the Shakespeare in the Park production of Measure for Measure, I posited that the problem with Shakespeare's "problem plays" might be that they're just not very good. Not to leap right into excessive praise, but I'd like to revise to consider that in fact, the problem may simply be that they aren't all being performed by the Fiasco Company whose bare bones vision of Cymbeline is a celebration of this downright silly play's stunning language as well as a farcical presentation of a storyline that makes most actual farces look timid.
The last time Cymbeline was on Broadway, it had a cast of 26. This production has a cast of...6.Doubling, tripling, and quadrupling roles, the actors manage to convey each character with a specificity that is particularly remarkable when you consider that none of them leave the stage at any point, costume changes are mostly restricted to accessories being swapped, and the entire set is (if I remember correctly) six chairs, two stools, and a box.
I won't even bother explaining the plot other than to say there is a princess in love with the wrong man, her stepmother is trying to get her to wed her son instead, attempts are made at poisoning, characters crossdress with incredible success, a woman's virtue becomes the subject of a bet, a husband ponders killing his wife, a war is fought, and when you think there may not be anything else you can shove into the story, two long disappeared siblings show up with the woman who kidnapped them.
The magical thing about all of this as text is that the bastard who wrote it manages to sneak in these incredibly incisive passages about the way people relate to each other. There are threads of humanity there that connect us so cleanly to the past, really highlighting how inherent some behavior is across hundreds of years. The magical thing about the performance is that this theatrical troupe manages to display those truths while simultaneously mocking the structure they're set within. Not only is nothing lost; much is gained. It's a master class in how to make great material out of mush. I loved the whole thing. It has my heartiest support.
Too bad that artwork is mega-hideous though, amirite?
Hey Jim,
ReplyDeleteYou should check out the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA. They perform 16 different titles every year and almost all but the holiday shows are Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
They tackle the "problem plays" with regularity and never have have a cast of more than 15 people. Also, they are a true rotating rep (usually with 5 shows running simultaneously) and all the actors in a given troupe perform in all the shows in the season. On top of that, they perform in the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor playhouse, the Blackfriars.
www.americanshakespearecenter.com