One of the reasons why I enjoyed Pericles so much was because the story pulls you in. It is like a soap opera and events just happen suddenly out of nowhere. The setting changes with almost no explanation at times. Yet, as Pericles embarked on his adventures, I became engrossed, wanted to know what would happen to him. I'd compare my experience in watching this play to a reality show. One that chronicled the life of Pericles, in fact. Think of the movie The Truman Show but crunched into a different span of time.
I was able to experience his life as it took place, feel like I knew him like any of my friends in real life. What made the play not as cheesy as some reality shows was Jonathan Goad's acting. His presence on stage was strong and intense. He radiated sincerity and you could believe the shock of discovering the incestuous relationship, the fighter who competed against the other knights and princes for a new life after losing everything in the storm, the grief of losing his wife and later his daughter, and the joy at the end.
The way he stared Nazneen Contractor's Marina down when she came to cheer him up was jarring. He sat so still and that image, the stillness expressed that his body existed as a shell because the two people he loved so dearly were lost to him. Without Thaisa and Marina, he had no life.
When Jonathan sang the song about his new life in Pentapolis, fate, finding love, I was euphoric. His voice was so beautiful. He evoked such a pleasant calm. As Pentapolis is Japan, the melody was like traditional Japanese music with its minor key and dissonance lamenting Pericles's separation from Tyre and accompaniment from a stringed Asian instrument. A gu zheng or pipa perhaps, an instrument native to Japan or maybe Thailand because that's where the composer of the play's music spent many years (profiled in an article in the Toronto Star).
Anyway, to stop my digression and get back to the point, either singing or speaking, Jonathan Goad did not falter or weaken his performance. Both means communicated perfectly Pericles's feelings. I wouldn't mind hearing more singing in future too. I wish I remembered more of his performance as Fyedka in Fiddler on the Roof from the 2000 season.
The event that changed Pericles's life stemmed from his seeking to marry. As well, love and marriage is a big part of one's life. The princess Thaisa evoked purity, spoke her mind as befitted necessity. She was chaste and carried herself as a princess was expected to, with grace, but declared her love freely for Pericles because her feelings were true. Basically, she is the polar opposite of the princess from the beginning, who had the incestuous relationship with her father.
Karen Ancheta's performance was at times awkward and didn't quite flow but at other moments, her simple, forward manner and appearance of delicate beauty captured the peace that Pericles sought. He found the wife he was searching for from the start, a woman who also was like-minded, that he could relate to.
All of the above lead to the daughter Marina. Nazneen Contractor's portrayal combined both personalities of her characters' parents. In Mytilene when she was sold into prostitution, her will to remain a virgin, the stubbornness and fight came from Pericles. Her belief in her virtue and reforming people, for example the governor Lysimachus, by appealing to the good within came from Thaisa.
Two memorable scenes were the one with the governor of Mytilene, Lysimachus, and of course the recognition scene with Pericles. The rapport between Nazneen Contractor and Haysam Kadri who played Lysimachus was magical, in a way. She spoke with much passion and conviction. In an instant, a miraculous act seemed to occur and Haysam Kadri's Lysimachus was a changed man. At that moment, he radiated much warmth and care, truly thankful. She offered him her belief, perhaps the something he sought but could never find to improve the conditions of the country he governed. The hope that transformed him and the effective portrayal of the transformation made Haysam Kadri a standout along with Nazneen Contractor.
In the recognition scene when she said to Pericles, "If you would listen to my story, you'd realize my pain is equal to yours", the manner and tone used invoked Jonathan Goad's Pericles. It was easy to think the thought, "like father, like daughter". Before they discovered their relationship, the rage coming from Jonathan Goad reduced Nazneen Contractor to a cowering, scared little girl. A nice dramatic irony as the audience got to see the father discipline the daughter before the characters knew it themselves.
Thom Marriott's Gower reminded me a bit of the Emcee from Cabaret. It was the full body painted white! I liked his entrance from below the stage and through the huge sheet. His performance infused the play with its magical, fantastical, and dream-like aura along with the lighting.
With the happy ending and the circle being completed, I couldn't help leaving the theatre feeling great, wanting to see Pericles once again, to relive the experience over and over.