The fairytale-inflected tragicomedy has a little Lear, an iota of Othello and just a titch of Titus Andronicus in it
While its jam-packed action and ever-shifting genre has sometimes given Cymbeline a reputation as a difficult play to stage or follow, everything is crystal clear in director Esther Jun’s staging on the Tom Patterson Theatre .
Philarmonous and Jupiter, who normally crop up later on, speak dialogue here that Shakespeare originally put in the mouths of two unnamed gentleman. But Jun’s repurposing of the lines is both elegant and immediately sets a fantasy tone for her production, which features a sacred tree that glows green designed by Echo Zhou as its centrepiece.
This evil stepfather – another sex-swapped character – purchases a vial of poison that he gives to Posthumus’s right-hand woman, Pisanio , telling her it is a potent healing medicine.“I do not like him,” Cornelius says matter-of-factly, explaining why he deceived the Duke. This is one of a number asides that Zhou, lighting designer as well as the set designer, frames in a short, sharp spotlight to amusing effect.
But what makes Jun’s production appealing, beyond its superb storytelling, is a fresh approach to acting where the performers are allowed to occasionally insert an anachronistic gesture or line delivery to connect this ancient world with now.
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