'Pericles' Review: Shakespeare in the blender
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, October 4, 2024


'Pericles' Review: Shakespeare in the blender
Eunice Wong, left, as Pericles, the Prince of Tyre, with Susannah Wilson in “Pericles” at the Target Margin Theater. Target Margin Theater remixes one of the Bard’s lesser works, with uninspired results..(Richard Termine via The New York Times)

by Laura Collins-Hughes



NEW YORK, NY.- In the opening lines of Shakespeare’s chaotic “Pericles,” before the play and its prince go chasing off on a series of adventures, there is a phrase so genteelly creepy that 400 years haven’t diminished its power to make an audience’s skin crawl.

We are told of a widowed king’s beautiful daughter, “with whom the father liking took and her to incest did provoke.” Or, as one narrator rephrases it for contemporary clarity in Target Margin Theater’s slenderized, slice-and-dice remix of the play: “The dude sleeps with his daughter.”

That’s not a secret that the predatory king wants anyone to know, and when Pericles, the Prince of Tyre, figures it out by solving a riddle, he has to flee for his life. But the king’s lurid scandal, which takes up much of the play’s first act, has nothing to do with what follows.

It’s just the catalyst that sends the hero on his way, into further chapters of his life. Pericles (Eunice Wong) marries, seemingly loses his wife (Mary Neufeld) to childbirth, then seemingly loses their daughter (Susannah Wilson), too, before assorted joyous and even goddess-aided reunions restore his happiness. A stale jumble of a play, it’s not exactly Shakespeare’s best work, and many scholars believe he shares authorship with dramatist George Wilkins.

Target Margin, which credits the text of its version to “Shakespeare and others,” has added yet more authors to the mix for David Herskovits’ staging at the Doxsee Theater in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Colloquial, 21st-century verbiage written by the ensemble, the designers and the production team is interspersed among the Jacobean lines — most heavily at the top of the show, as the actors try to ease us into the bizarro plot.

Except that they also jar us from it, as when the announcement about turning off cellphones is tucked awkwardly amid the dialogue after the performance has begun. In Act II, when a fisherman asks Pericles if he knows where he is, another character answers for him: “We’re in Brooklyn,” which is funny until the show steps on its own levity with the rest of the line, “originally known as Lenapehoking.” Then comes the land acknowledgment.

Herskovits, Target Margin’s artistic director, has a long track record of intrepid theatrical investigation, which has often resulted in surprising illumination. This “Pericles,” unfortunately, is an experiment that does not work. It is not clear enough in execution to suggest what it was aiming for.

The cast is stocked with talent, and Dina El-Aziz’s costumes are lively and fun: motley and iridescent in Act I, largely black and white by Act V. But the storytelling has a miscalculated remoteness that leaves us with little to hang onto and no reason to feel — though Wong, in the title role, almost wrings emotion from the ending.

Herskovits and his company are seeking meaning in a text that has survived this long not on merit, but because it bears Shakespeare’s name. Intact, the play is wildly overloaded. But this scooped-out variation feels like a dried husk that’s somehow just as messy as if it still had its entrails.



‘Pericles’

Through March 26 at Target Margin Theater, Brooklyn; targetmargin.org. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

March 16, 2023

Asia Week New York opens with an abundance of treasures and stories to tell

Georgia Museum of Art receives awards for patron and exhibition

National Gallery of Art acquires works by Fede Galizia and Caterina Angela Pierozzi

Who was Leonardo's mother? A novelist has evidence she was enslaved.

Pace Gallery and PKM Gallery announce joint representation of the Yoo Youngkuk Estate

Thaddaeus Ropac opens Wolfgang Laib's 'City of Silence'

'Dressed for History: Why Costume Collections Matter' opens at the Museum of Vancouver

Rare Asa Ames portrait acquired by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

The Lucas Museum finds your lack of faith disturbing

Galerie Nathalie Obadia opens a group exhibition of sculptures

ADA, Rome opens an exhibition of works by Jacopo Belloni

'Tomas Lundgren: Bildertalas' opens today at Galerie Leu

Tiwani Contemporary opens an exhibition of works by Umar Rashid

Goldin's Winter Comics, Video Games & TCG Elite Auction smashes records for rare comic books, original art & more

Amy Schwartz, who captured life as viewed by a child, dies at 68

Spy Museum receives $3 million gift from Verstandig Family Foundation

Mimosa House opens Italian artist Adelaide Cioni's first solo show in the UK

'Pericles' Review: Shakespeare in the blender

Regulating the global art logistics sector from facilities and equipment to data security

Morphy's returns to Las Vegas for annual fall auction of coin-ops, gambling machines & antique advertising

National Audubon Society will keep its name despite ties to slavery

Rudd Trowbridge's mechanical banks & bell toys, and Phil and Joan Steel's tin windups headline auction

What Is An NFT? Non-Fungible Tokens Explained

Tubidy vs YouTube Music Download: Which is the Better Choice for Music Lovers?

How Can Restaurant Patio Furniture Enhance Your Outdoor Space?




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful