Pericles takes the Prince of Tyre on a Mediterranean adventure full of riddles, betrayals…and pirates! From confident leader to yearning lover to seeker of meaning, our hero in this Shakespearean tragicomedy will be brought to life on the CSC stage by the inventive Fiasco Theater, who have previously delighted New York audiences with inspired interpretations of Cymbeline and Into the Woods. The Fiasco Theater ensemble brings music, poetry, and a completely new way of seeing one of the Bard’s most complex characters.
Fear no more: Fiasco’s Pericles is a revelation, a revivification of New York theater’s most essential ensemble and a redemption for a play seldom produced and even less seldom praised. Things, though, do start out somewhat unconvincingly. Pericles is thought to be a collaboration between Shakespeare and George Wilkins, an abusive innkeeper whom scholars think probably was running a brothel, and it’s in the rather un-Shakespearean first act (typically attributed to Wilkins) that Fiasco unsurprisingly finds the greatest challenge.
Midway through, “Pericles” finds its sea legs, mostly because the action shifts to Pericles’s daughter, Marina, played by the luminous Emily Young. This also signals the play’s move away from struggle and loss and toward redemption and joy, more natural keys for Fiasco, which has always excelled at comedy. The brothel scenes, in which a chaste Marina reforms would-be customers, are sprightly. And the ending, among Shakespeare’s best, is suitably moving. But the chief delight here, as in any Fiasco show, is watching the actors work with such fluency and in such communion, supporting and enjoying one another’s work. That’s not quite a miracle, but it’s reason enough to set sail.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music in a Play | Ben Steinfeld |
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