The Adventures of Pericles

Seen June24 2015, Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford Ontario

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Scott Wentworth

Stratford’s pledge to perform Shakespeare‘s entire canon within the next decade gives the opportunity to (re)discover plays that are not often performed. Last year, King John was one of the biggest surprises for us, so we didn’t hestiate to get tickets for Pericles.

I have to admit not really knowing the play, but from what I read about the original text so far, there must have been a vast amount of editing necessary. The title character Pericles, a prince, has a knack for getting lost at sea and ending up in different kingdoms. The kings and princesses he encounters are brilliantly played by Wayne Best and Deborah Hay, who even ends up playing Pericles‘ daughter Marina.

Having the actors portray several characters was a clever play by director Scott Wentworth, who also added Diane (Marion Adler) instead of the Chorus as a link between the kingdoms and storylines. Unfortunately, some didn’t realise what was going on; the ladies in front of me in the line for the washrooms complained about the kings and their daughters looking too similar and thought, they should have cast actors that looked less alike. Whoopsie.

I thought the differences in the characters were well acted, so I wasn’t confused. Our friend who didn’t know about it beforehand said she needed a moment to realise after the first switch, but then it was all good. And she’d like to add that the incest storyline was disgusting. Which Pericles apparently thought as well, getting out of there as quickly as possible.

What the play itself may lack, direction and actors compensated for. It was a suspensful production that also made most with very little props and I’d like to give special kudos to Sean Arbuckle, who stepped in as the title character Pericles for Evan Buliung the evening we saw the play.

Of course the cast does play a role in choosing which plays to watch – along with the director – but in the end, the play’s the thing. When I read that the role of Pericles was to be played by Sean Arbuckle instead of Evan Buliung for the performance we went to, I wasn’t worried in the least. After all, who better to have adventures at sea than a former pirate king?

If I was a betting woman, I’d wager that several people in the audience didn’t even realise the actor playing Pericles wasn’t the guy hired to do so every night. It also highlights the wealth of good actors this company has. This wasn’t the first time we got to see an understudy shine in a title role in Stratford.

The only thing that irks me about it is that I’m always left wondering what the other actor would have done differently and cursing the fact that I can’t just come back later in the season to rewatch the play, but that’s what we call complaining on a high level.

If you want to see a Shakespeare play where you don’t think you know everything that is going to happen, go see The Adventures of Pericles.