NEW YORK—The Public Theater’s Mobile Shakespeare Unit does an absolutely fantastic job with their production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Containing elements of drama, pathos, comedy, love, loss, incest, shipwrecks, pirates and the ultimate truth that those of good moral fiber will triumph over adversity, the result is one of the most enjoyable theatrical experiences in recent memory.
Prince Pericles (Raffi Barsoumian), ruler of Tyre has traveled to Antioch to win the hand of the King’s daughter (Tiffany Rachelle Stewart). However, he must first solve the riddle her father (David Ryan Smith) has created. Failure to do so will mean the Prince’s death. While puzzling out the riddle, Pericles discovers the dark secret of incest the King and his daughter share and flees the country in disgust.
The King sends an assassin in pursuit of Pericles to ensure he never tells what he has learned. Knowing he is under a death sentence, Pericles goes into hiding, after first selecting the trusted Helicanus (J.D. Webster) to rule in his absence.
Soon after, Pericles finds himself shipwrecked on the coast of Pentapolis. Befriended by two fisherman and receiving a divine sign from the sea, he makes his way to the court of King Simonides (Smith), where he falls in love with the King’s daughter Thaisa (Stewart), winning her heart and hand.
However, on the couple’s voyage back to Tyre, their ship is caught in a mighty storm, in the midst of which Thaisa gives birth to a daughter before perishing in childbirth. Thaisa’s body is placed reverently in the sea to satisfy an age-old superstition.
Containing elements of The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest, it’s easy to see why Pericles is not done more often. For one thing, the script contains close to 40 characters, many of whom appear briefly and are never seen again. Also, there are some huge action scenes in many different locations. Even with a continuing descriptive thread covering the various shifts of place and time, it’s still a tall order to make the show work correctly. And, after the plot follows Pericles through the first two-thirds of the story, the play shifts focus to his daughter Marina (Flor De Liz Perez), changing the rhythm of the tale somewhat while the audience must now decide whether to follow someone new.
