Me considering William Shakespeare's late-period romance, Cymbeline:
Some have called Cymbeline a narrative "feast," though really it's more of an Old Country Buffet. We all have the Shakespeare titles we treasure and keep dear, a few we hold at arm's length, some we're embarrassed to admit we don't know as well as we should, and often one for which we reserve our total ire. My general frustration with Cymbeline (I claim) lies in how much it asks of us not being in consort with how little it rewards: understanding why this formal audacity had to be married to this particular story is tough to fathom. The pyrotechnics of the plot and its ultimate revelations are so folkloric [derogatory] and wild in their soap-operatics that the ideal outcome seems to be me Shaking My Damn Head at all the hijinks on display; maybe I'm just not easily endeared by Shakespeare at his most plot-y.
But then again, to quote Harold Bloom (Shakespeare studies' most useful punching bag), we underestimate Shakespeare at our peril. Thinking about various past productions of the play I've seen, more than once I've come away convinced that the play's goofy engine can run well if treated with the proper sentimental irreverence: Fiasco Theater's stripped-down take with 6 actors served the drama splendidly, and the characterizations rendered by Milwaukee Shakespeare (RIP) remain laugh-inducing even some 15 years on.
So know that my issues with Esther Jun's production currently running on the Tom Pattterson stage at the Stratford Festival are not sour grapes related to a title-based grudge. Shakespeare's play tells the story of the princess Innogen (Allison Edwards-Crewe), who runs afoul of her monarch parent Cymbeline (Lucy Peacock) after she marries the non-royal Posthumus (Jordin Hall). The story takes so many twists and turns on its road to something like 27 revelations (that the audience already knows) in the final scene that Shakespeare seems to be wilfully disregarding the causality of drama, and reveling in what people who like the play refer to as fairy-tale logic.
This Stratford production takes a noble stab at the material, and you can tell the text personally means a lot to Jun. The issue here is it's taken so damn seriously. Of course the actors are going to have to truthfully inhabit the given circumstances of their world, whether comedy or tragedy. But the way Jun frontloads the spiritual dimensions of the play, both in the choreography and the design elements, weights the production in a direction that isn't conducive to being able to laugh at itself. She even begins the first act with a big ol' movement piece, with the ensemble larking about ponderously over the deep thrust stage. The costumes are gorgeous (designed by Michelle Bohn), and they strike so regal a tone that discourages the world having any sense of being light on its feet. Similarly, the set, with its illuminated tree (lights and scenic by Echo Zhou) takes the play as seriously as a heart-attack, in a tale that cries out for a little more self-conscious theatricality. Placing Cymbeline in a more-or-less actual world (however peppered with magical elements) feels like the wrong way to wring fun and revelation out of this curiously wacky item.
The actors may always have to take it seriously, but not necessarily the director. The mystical elements of characters like Jupiter (Marcus Nance) and the Soothsayer (Cynthia Jimenez-Hicks) are employed to grave and mighty ends, in a manner that belies the ridiculousness of the story in which they appear. Jun's severity also doesn't serve Edwards-Crewe well, whose Innogen seems only capable of dire earnestness, and rarely humor, imperiousness, or the ability to spark terror. Christopher Allen as the comic villain Cloten is very entertaining, though in about 10 variations I don't know that I've ever seen a Cloten I didn't enjoy: his insufferability combined with his eventual malice is apparently an irresistible cocktail.
To the production's credit, Tyrone Savage as Iachimo is incredible. Dastardly, delightful, and sparklingly clear, his appearance on the stage elevates the entire operation.
Cymbeline can work marvelously onstage, but if the director asks the play to carry a burden it's not prepared for, you come away asking that most dreaded of audience questions: "why are you telling me this?" This production is not a bad one by any means, it's just not the best version of Cymbeline that Cymbeline can be.
Jun's rendition certainly has its heart in the right place. All in all, I just think, though it surprises me to admit this, Cymbeline should be more fun than that.
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