Reviews 2004
Reviews 2004
✭✭✭✩✩
by William Shakespeare, directed David Latham
Stratford Festival, Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford
July 15-September 26, 2004
"Hidden Gem Reveals Cast’s Flaws"
The Stratford Festival’s current production of Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline” is only the third in the Festival’s history. Previous productions were in 1986 and 1970. It’s hard to fathom why such a fascinating play should receive such neglect when a demonstrably lesser play like “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” has been produced twice as often. While the current production is not ideal, it presents the play clearly enough that any Shakespeare-lover would do well to see it rather than risk waiting another 18 years for the chance.
“Cymbeline” is one of Shakespeare’s late plays identified by Northrop Frye as “romances”, a category that includes “Pericles”, “The Winter’s Tale”, “The Tempest” and “The Two Noble Kinsmen”. In these Shakespeare returned to an earlier form of storytelling much like the fairy-tale that goes beyond tragedy and comedy to include the miraculous. The themes include reconciliation, the healing power of time and the nature of storytelling itself.
“Cymbeline” is an excellent example since its plot allows Shakespeare to revisit elements of some of his best-known tragedies and to look at them from another point of view. Cymbeline, a legendary king of England living supposedly during the reign of Caesar Augustus (27 BC-AD 14), has had his two sons stolen from him not to be found. His one remaining child Imogen has secretly married a commoner, Posthumus Leonatus, whom Cymbeline banishes from the kingdom. Posthumus goes to Rome, where he meets a cynical gentleman named Iachimo, who believes no woman can be faithful to her husband and claims he can go to England and come back with proof he has slept with Imogen. Meanwhile, Cymbeline’s second wife, Imogen’s evil stepmother, convinces Cymbeline not to pay tribute to Rome, thus bringing the two countries to war, and keeps urging her own son Cloten to woo Imogen as she plots to win the crown.
Echoes of “King Lear” and “Othello” swirl through the action and, when Imogen dons male attire to escape the court, of “Twelfth Night” and “As You Like It”. As if to emphasize theme of storytelling, director David Latham creates a larger role for the actor playing the First Gentleman. The text of the play begins with a typical conversation between a First and Second Gentleman to tell us the background to the story. Latham has omitted the Second Gentleman, thus transforming the First Gentleman into a kind of narrator or author-figure, like Gower in “Pericles”. Latham then places him on stage through much of the action as if he were the author watching his work unfold. In the guises of Jupiter and later the Soothsayer, his appearance suggests direct authorial intervention.
To support this, designer Victoria Wallace has created an allegorical tapestry visible through the action that depicts the cryptic message Jupiter gives Posthumus that explains how the work will end. Latham’s and Wallace’s approach to the work highlights its sophistication as a narrative about narratives and makes a good case that “Cymbeline” does not deserve its neglect.
If only Latham’s sophisticated approach were matched by the acting, this “Cymbeline” would be a major triumph. Unfortunately, while the older generation of actors dig deep into the text, the younger generation seem unable sometimes even to communicate its surface meaning.
James Blendick as Cymbeline, Martha Henry as his Queen and Bernard Hopkins as Posthumus servant Pisanio all give especially fine performances. Blendick’s wrath at Imogen easily reminds us of Lear’s against Cordelia and the deep emotion he conjures up in the final scene of revelations and reconciliations is the greatest single factor in giving the whole production a sense of emotional depth. Henry seems to revel in the chance to play a character who is wholly evil, masking her villainy under smiles and caresses. She creates the kind of character you love to hate with such imaginative detail, you wish Shakespeare had managed to include her in the second half of the play. Hopkins is excellent as the faithful servant who serve as our emotional touchstone through the action. The clarity of his delivery makes up for the sometimes garbled delivery of his juniors and helps in large measure in making the story clear. In smaller roles Stephen Russell is the crusty “mountaineer” Belarius and Ian Deakin is Cornelius, a good doctor who has seen through the Queen’s deception.
The younger generation suffers by comparison with these actors by often failing to rise to the challenges of their roles. Claire Jullien is fine when Imogen is called on to be plucky or care-worn, but can’t summon the great emotion required when she parts from and is later reunited with Posthumus or when she is threatened with death from an old friend. Dan Chameroy is a well-spoken Posthumus but can’t clearly portray his character’s bafflement when confronted with Iachimo’s proofs of Imogen’s faithlessness. Dion Johnstone plays Iachimo as merely a carefree gambler not the embodiment of evil he is supposed to be. In 1986 Colm Feore’s appearance in the bedroom scene of Act 2 was absolutely chilling, whereas Johnstone seems only a prankster.
There is more humour to be found in the character of Cloten than Ron Kennell brings out. Stephen Gartner and Gordon S. Miller are fine as Guiderius and Aviragus as long they are enthusiastic youths, but they fail utterly to bring any feeling to their great lament for the dead (and best-known lines of the play), “Fear no more the heat o’ th’ sun.” Kyle Blair speaks clearly enough as the First Gentleman/Narrator and Soothsayer but hardly conjures up a sense of majesty as Jupiter.
Victoria Wallace’s costumes suggest the medieval period through cloaks and shawls without actually being period costumes. Given that the set is usually bare in this production, Michael J. Whitfield’s lighting is instrumental in creating atmosphere and, more than the acting, makes the scene of ghosts and Jupiter’s appearance magical.
Even if the acting is not of a uniformly high calibre, Latham’s production makes clear that “Cymbeline” is an intriguing commentary on Shakespeare’s other works as well as a fascinating play in its own right. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 18 years to enjoys its riches.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photo: Claire Jullien and Dan Chameroy. ©2004 Stratford Festival.
2004-08-19
Cymbeline