Review by Raphael Kohn
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
There’s something fairly bold in a new co-Artistic Director of the UK’s foremost Shakespeare company choosing Pericles for her directing debut at the venue. Not revived in 18 years, and for only the sixth time in the entire history of the RSC, Pericles is an odd enough choice; a show labelled as having an ‘untheatrical plot’ in its own program notes certainly sets itself up for a challenge.
But it’s a bold choice that pays off. Actually, it pays off by quite a long way. I’d probably describe Pericles as some kind of historical epic, a continent-spanning marathon of a plot that somehow takes less time than the more frivolous comedies currently staged in the theatre next door. The titular prince of Tyre crosses the oceans, experiencing new shores, their leaders, experiencing love and loss along the way. And there’s also about a hundred shipwrecks as well, just for good measure.
It's a colossal tale, no doubt, but it’s contained into the little Swan theatre. What could be a theatrical extravaganza of effects, magic, and huge setpieces, is instead given an intelligent treatment by co-Artistic Director Tamara Harvey. It’s staged as an epic folk tale, a band of players on Jonathan Fensom’s dark and mostly bare wooden stage, exploring and narrating their way through a tale that feels as old as time. There’s no gimmicks here, no half-baked high-concept reimagining (though I am no opponent to well-thought out radical revivals!). What we get here is a genuinely engrossing play.
Harvey plays an ace early on in the casting of Alfred Enoch as the titular hero, oozing youthful wisdom from his very first moments on the stage and commandeering the action beautifully. His character may be royalty, but he’s an approachable leader, utterly watchable and likeable throughout even in his darkest moments. But he’s not alone here, with a multi-roling ensemble around him to conjure the world into life.
Episodically changing as Pericles journeys to Tyre from Phoenicia, to Tarsus, Ephesus, Pentapolis, and Mytilene, they morph into being through the slightest of changes to physicalities and costumes. But they’re great – Christian Patterson’s humourous Simonides’ cheekiness is well contrasted with the seriousness of Jacqueline Boatswain’s Cerimon.
Unlike many of the RSC’s shows, this one does tend to feel like a star vehicle for Enoch a lot of the time. And of course, that’s fine, because he’s brilliant. But Harvey knows what she wants to do here – her ‘epic folk tale’ needs players, not just cameos. And so along with their multi-roling, they swoosh and glide around the stage, contorting and bending to Claire Van Kampen’s folk-cum-film music score throughout. It’s not in every single moment, but movement director Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster conjures a hypnotic, mesmerising visual world to illustrate the narrative.
Mainly because there’s a lot of narrative to illustrate, with frequent speeches delivered to tell, not show, the audience background information. Who is Pericles, and what is he doing in Phoenicia at the start of the play? Why does Pericles make the decisions he does? It’s sometimes shown, but more often narrated by Rachelle Diedericks as Gower, the play’s narrator, so thankfully the movement injects some much-needed fluidity and charm into what could otherwise be static narration.
But there’s a trick up Harvey’s sleeve; Diedericks’ Gower is not what she seems. As the twist comes in the second act, and a transformation occurs to frame the tale within a new layer of storytelling, there’s a risk it could be a bit ‘ha! Look what we did here!’. But it isn’t, and instead, it’s another reminder of why this debut for the new co-Artistic Director demonstrates her value in spades. I’ll not do the production the disservice of spoiling the twist – go and see it for yourself – but it’s smart. Rachelle Diedricks has the range to pull it off, her fourth wall-breaking narrator subsiding into something new without a whiplash transition but still elegantly delineated from the previous character.
It’s not all entirely easy – Harvey’s certainly up against the limitations of the play here. Written by two people (our Bard is generally thought to have only written half of Pericles, with the other half written slightly more inferiorly), there’s occasionally a bit of a lapse here and there of energy and intensity. Some of the second half could benefit from a bit more sparkle in a few fleeting moments of slowness. But these really are fleeting, and they make way for a genuinely moving ending that leaves you fully theatrically satisfied.
So if this is how Tamara Harvey wants to make her RSC debut as a new co-Artistic Director, then I take my hat off to her. Going straight in with an elegant and intelligent new production, subtle yet striking, understated yet vivdly dramatic, she’s really done quite an excellent job. It’s a star moment for Enoch, and a thunderous performance all around from the terrific ensemble behind him. An epic tale, no doubt. An epic production, most certainly.
Pericles plays at the Swan Theatre until 21st September 2024. Tickets from https://www.rsc.org.uk/pericles/
Photos by Johan Persson
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