Pericles has a unique voice among all of Shakespeare’s plays, and we wish to allow this romance its full blossoming with its “sequence of archetypes” and its patterns of “love, loss and restoration” (Suzanne Gossett, Arden Shakespeare Edition). The script for this production was developed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Certain words have been changed and phrases inserted into Shakespeare’s original text that contribute to the goal of relating the story more succinctly. Several scenes have been rearranged in an effort to enhance the continuity of the action. Some speeches have been reassigned and relocated and others have been omitted. Material from both Wilkens’ and Twine’s (authors of prose versions of Pericles in the early 1600’s) versions of the tale have been included to enrich the content of particular scenes and choruses. We would like to thank the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for allowing us to use this script and to Laird Williamson who inspired this production.
The freshest innovation of this production (which also originated with the OSF production) is the transformation of the character of Gower from a single narrator to a Greek chorus. The company achieves this through song and chant, narrative speech, and dance. We hope that we will provide audiences the opportunity to experience a totally unique play.
There is nothing quite like Pericles in Shakespeare’s canon. Pericles is a completely unexpected theatrical feast. The style is extraordinary and rich in myth. Shakespeare sensed a potent power in this play and gave us a feeling of being immersed in an ancient text. Laird Williamson of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival aptly states, “It is as if Pericles has been pieced together out of leaves of crumbling papyrus, broken slabs of stone and shards of terra cotta tablets.” Pericles is a sprawling epic depicted in a few short hours has a filmic quality that evokes the vastness of the Mediterranean world, its fabled cities and troubled seas.
The last four plays of Shakespeare’s life are called romances. They all had characters that were archetypal in nature, but none of them are drawn with the level of emotional reality that we find in Pericles. As well as the honorable prince the play includes the trusted friend, the faithful wife, the heroic daughter, the cruel tyrant, the good king and even the evil stepmother. These characters spark recognition from the audiences’ own life experience, while at the same time striking a primal chord that represents the pathway into our complex and delicate human feelings, helping us to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves.
As Shakespeare entered the final phase of his life he was fascinated by the complexities and wonders of life. “In the worldview of this play, the evil would not be living after us, nor the good interred with our bones. The good would triumph and the sea of troubles would have meaning all its own” (Laird Williamson OSF). In Pericles, he created a myth, which for modern audiences is just as profound today as it was 400 years ago. Marina’s cry that “This world to me is as a lasting storm” is one that is universal. Equally resonant is Pericles’ deeply tortured cry “Why do you make us love your goodly gifts and snatch them straight away?” that strikes to the very heart of some of our basic existential questions.
Carmen Khan
Artistic/Executive Director