Reviewed by Mark Johnson at The Swan Theatre
Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review.
Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review.
Co-artistic Director Tamara Harvey makes her directorial debut for the RSC bringing to life Pericles last seen in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 2006.
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| Alfred Enoch as Pericles. Photo by Johan Persson |
This is a superb debut by Harvey as her clarity for the text and the language helps drive this excellently cast production.
The play was extremely popular in Shakespeares’s day but fell out of favour. The show programme notes that modern productions have often tried to ‘fix’ the play due to its untheatrical plot and structure. Harvey’s production seemingly doesn’t have this problem here and serves up something that is very watchable and quite moving.
We follow Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Alfred Enoch), who is forced to flee after solving a riddle set by King Antiochus (Felix Hagan). The first-act moves at a great pace as Pericles initially travels to Tarsus where he helps the people with famine. Upon departure from Tarsus, Pericles is shipwrecked in a storm and rescued near Pentapolis where he learns that King Simonides will offer his daughter, Thaisa (Leah Haile) to whomever wins the jousting competition. Of course, Pericles wins the contest and Thaisa’s hand in marriage.
Pericles decides it’s time to return to Tyre with Thaisa who is now pregnant. On the journey there’s a storm (Pericles does have rotten luck when on the water) during which Thaisa dies in childbirth of their daughter. Pericles chooses to bury her at sea. Here drops the interval.
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| Rachelle Diedericks as Marina. Photo by Johan Persson. |
After the interval we find Pericles entrusting his daughter, Marina, with Governor Cleon and wife Dionyza. Whilst this is occurring Thaisa’s coffin is washed up in Ephesus, where she is suprisingly revived and joins a temple as a nun.
The plot jumps 14 years where we meet Marina (Rachelle Diedericks) whose murder is being plotted by Dionyza, but instead Marina ends up abducted by pirates and sold into a brothel but her virginity proves bad for business though she does impress Governor Lysimachus.
Pericles though is a lost soul heavy in the grief that he carries (excellently portrayed by Enoch). By chance he lands in Mytilene where Lysimachus reunites father and daughter in a beautiful scene that is deeply moving and starts to waterworks in the audiences eyes. The emotional finale that follow further lands the impact of emotion as love and loss is reconciled and a Shakespearean happy ending leaves you uplifted.
Alfred Enoch for the most part feels assured in the titular role, he particularly impresses in more emotional moments including the reuniting moments. Leah Haile is a charming Thaisa, the short lived bond the pair create is lovely.
Undoubtedly the star of the performance is an outstanding Rachelle Diedericks. Making her RSC debut as Marina I think she’s on to keep an eye on in the future. She carries the role with great skill navigating lots of emotions, from the horror of murder plot, to kidnap to that beautiful reunion. Diedericks is a constantly illuminating presence.
In terms of supporting roles Christian Patterson has fun drawing lots out of Simonides and Miriam O’Brien understudies as Dionyza with great assurance.
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| Alfred Enoch as Pericles and Leah Haile as Thaisa. Photo by Johan Persson. |
Jonathan Fensom’s set design uses ropes at the backdrop and above to stage. The use of props and various entrances and exits allows for developing the plot while Kinnetia Isidore’s costumes are gloriously lavish pieces befitting with the timeframe the show is set in. There’s plenty of movement which Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster directs and the cast move with ease like the gentle wind in the blowing on the branches.
The production is thrilling to sit back and soak up. Clear and driven storytelling with Harvey weaving her magic wand to make this production sing. It is delivered with a great care for the text and the language.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pericles plays in the Swan Theatre at the RSC in Stratford-Upon-Avon until Saturday 21st September 2024. Tickets are available from https://www.rsc.org.uk/pericles/.
The production transfers to Chicago Shakespeare Theater from 20th October until 8th December 2024. Tickets are available from https://www.rsc.org.uk/pericles/
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