TheaterMania.com, July 04, 2003
The Adventures of Pericles
By: Perry Tannenbaum
...I began an enchanting day at the 1824-seat Festival Theatre with a magical production of Shakespeare's Pericles, flamboyantly renamed The Adventures of Pericles and presented in flamboyant, Far Eastern design. Warriors parade across the stage wearing costumes that conjure the conquering Tartar and Mongol hordes, colored armor shining like "Transformer" gladiator toys. Attending the story as it meandered through six kingdoms with its long separations and reunions, I realized that this is the most medieval of Shakespeare's plays -- more like the works of Chaucer and Boccaccio or the Arabian Nights tales than The Tempest, Cymbeline, or Troilus and Cressida.
There are vile villains and villainesses in Pericles. There are pure women who suffer patiently until they are reclaimed after long years. All surround Pericles, the prince of Tyre, who suffers all and is ennobled by his sufferings. In the title role, Jonathan Goad seems to improve as he goes along, measuring his words more and more effectively as the wandering prince ages and acquires wisdom. Thom Marriott is haunting as the sardonic narrator Gower, looking buff in pale body paint and wearing little more than a diaper. His final exit through a trap door, with an ocean of silk following him, is spellbinding.
The joy that the prince feels in reuniting with wife and child had a poignant resonance. Going to a distant place like Stratford to see a seldom-produced drama like Pericles, I found the joy of discovery enhanced by the length of the journey...