Playwright: William Shakespeare
At: Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue
Phone: (773) 753-4472; $30-$40
Runs through: June 1
The Romance Cycle presents two rarely seen, late-career (1609-1610) Shakespeare works, Cymbeline and Pericles, Prince of
Tyre. Both are swift-moving family dramas with elaborate plots featuring spirits, gods and fantasy, and seemingly miraculous reunions
and resurrections. Neither particularly profound nor poetic, they are Shakespeare in entertainment mode.
Cymbeline is set in Roman-occupied Britain, and concerns the sorely tested love of poor-but-honorable Posthumus for the king's
daughter, faithful-unto-death Imogen. Pericles—an Elizabethan soap opera with non-stop plot twists—is set within the pre-Christian
Middle East, where King Pericles and his daughter, Marina, are the playthings of the gods.
These plays are so odd—even silly—that for three centuries scholars and audiences didn't know what to make of them. Modern
attitude—first revealed 10 years ago in productions at the Shakespeare Repertory Theatre (now Chicago Shakespeare Theatre)—
takes them at face value as rip-snortin' good stories, punchy picaresque adventures with happy endings. Artistic director Charles
Newell follows suit at Court Theatre, encouraging audiences to remove their shoes, kick back and enjoy the primal energy of a
communal act of storytelling.
To that end, Newell and designers John Culbert (scenic), Michelle Habeck (lighting) and Linda Roethke (costumes) have
designed a blue-and-white circus. A continuous white carpet across the stage and auditorium floor unites actors and viewers in a
single space. Nearly all the costumes are white or off-white variations of gym clothes, loose rehearsal garments, or draped jackets
suggesting more formal dress. The lighting, too, is nearly colorless.
The audience is engaged not only through text, but through interaction involving songs, primitive percussion instruments (think
kindergarten band), the infrequent ad lib, and the knowing glance or wink. This charming appearance of loose and spontaneous
storytelling largely is effective. But, of course, it's not spontaneous. The white color palette establishes a rigid convention for the
production, with the lighting particularly bright but cold. A little more lighting color would have gone a very long way in establishing
mood, place and warmth.
But overwhelmingly, The Romance Cycle is ambitious and well-crafted, filled with imaginative details of movement, song,
athleticism, puppetry, masks and circus borrowings. To offset Shakespeare's paucity of female roles, women take several secondary
men's roles. Newell's work is clear in concept, clear in command and well-modulated, revealing an ability with low comedy I've not
seen before.
The dexterous and comely ensemble of 14 is a model of youthful energy. There's particularly strong work from Lance Stuart Baker
in both plays, Kate Fry as the wronged Imogen, Jay Whitaker as a lascivious Roman and a spike-heeled bawd, Guy Adkins—
maturing so well as an actor—as Pericles, Timothy Edward Kane as a rotten prince or as a fisherman, and from the strikingly
handsome Chaon Cross as put-upon Marina (sporting the best costume, a Deco-cut crepe dress).
This rollicking Romance Cycle offers tremendous bang for the buck. There's much more style than depth, but that's
Shakespeare—racing from moment to moment and theme to theme—not Court Theatre.