Pericles Oakland Tribune Review

Courtesy of The Oakland Tribune

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Woman's Will puts Shakespeare's `Pericles' to the test

by Chad Jones - STAFF WRITER

Woman's Will, the all-female Shakespeare troupe, has unfurled the best outdoor show of the season so far in ``Pericles, Prince of Tyre," a rarely performed Shakespeare curiosity.

The play opened over the weekend in Berkeley's John Hinkel Park, and before the summer is out, the production will have circumnavigated the Bay with free performances in a park near you.

``Pericles" is not often performed, perhaps because it's so grandly silly in its yarn spinning. Within the first minutes of the play we get references to an incestuous king and his daughter, and by play's end, we've had miracles of faith and medicine, an attack by pirates, not to mention assorted shipwrecks, betrayals, painful deaths and sweet resurrections.

Scholars argue, as scholars do, that ``Pericles" is not entirely a Shakespeare play. Many suggest that the play, which appeared late in Shakespeare's career as he headed into the ``Winter's Tale" and ``Tempest" years, was actually the work of another playwright. Wanting to perform the play with his company, the King's Majesty's Players, Shakespeare gave the old script a re-write.

Leaving the first two acts pretty much alone, the Bard of Avon dove more energetically into the last three acts, giving them a decidedly Shakespearean spin.

Even if it is sort of a mongrel play, ``Pericles" is a great choice for a performance in the park. The plot, which finds Shakespeare trying to out-Job Job, is easy to follow, and the verse is light, pretty and, at times, both funny and poignant.

Woman's Will artistic director Erin Merritt guides her company with the sure hand of someone who knows the power of simple storytelling. Her nine actors play dozens of characters with surprising success considering that their costumes (by Greeta Ahart) hardly change except for a ribbon here and there.

Susan-Jane Harrison heads the cast as Pericles, Prince of Tyre (or Lebanon, as we know it), a man who must suffer untold tragedies before being allowed a shred of happiness late in his life.

We first meet him around 200 B.C. when he has discovered the incestuous king's secret and must flee the kingdom or be killed. He ends up in Tarsus (thought to be Turkey), where he saves the citizens from a great famine. From there he survives a shipwreck and washes up on the shores of Pentapolis (possibly Libya), where he participates in a contest for the affections of the Princess Thaisa (Lizzie Calogero). He wins her heart, marries her and heads for far-off shores. But before he can write his ``happily ever after," tragedy strikes both his wife and his daughter Marina (Juliet Tanner).

Just as Pericles is tested, so is Marina. She's a beautiful, virtuous woman who, because of a nasty surrogate mother and some pesky pirates, becomes bound to a whorehouse in Myteline (Lesbos Island, Greece).
This is when you can really feel Shakespeare taking interest in the play and churning out some terrific scenes that contrast bawdiness and piety.

-byline-the time goddess Diana (Sage Catron, who, as the narrator, performs in American Sign Language) descends from Mt. Olympus, the story is in great need of a happy ending and gets a doozy.
What's extraordinary about ``Pericles," aside from this fine production, is that such a goofy, all-over-the-map plot can end up being so moving. As the reunited Pericles family, Harrison, Calogero and Tanner do the kind of work that will have you rummaging your picnic basket for a tissue.

The rest of the cast - Jaxy Boyd, Kristen Lo, Rami Margron, Christine Odera, Robin Steeves and two more ASL interpreters - has some wonderful moments. Especially good is Odera as Simonides, the crusty king who makes Pericles work to win the hand of Princess Thaisa.

Like so many fairy tales, ``Pericles" wades through the worst of humanity to reward a glimmer of hope with a happy ending. This one is well earned on all counts.