Download 6. Pericles - Nate Sinnott

Stage is a world at CLU's theater
Bard's 'Pericles' is well-acted and creatively mounted
By Rita Moran
Thursday, November 19, 2009
It plays a lot like the Perils of Pericles, with its crises and escapes coming fast and
furious.
Shakespeareʼs “Pericles, Prince of Tyre,” popular in its day and more recently hitting
the boards in London and New York to some acclaim, throws the Bardʼs shipwrecks
and survivals, lost and found loves, tyranny and justice into a blender and salts it with
royalty, servants, fishermen and a bordello.
In other words, it could be called a typical Shakespeare work, except that the more
memorable ones have stronger characterization, more concise plots and lines that
endure for the ages.
Yet thereʼs something about the adventure of producing a play that few if any in the
audience have ever seen and fleshing out its resonance with contemporary life that
makes it a perfect fit for a university project. California Lutheran University not only
brings that literary zest, spearheaded by director and theater professor Michael J.
Arndt, but superior technical work beginning with the sparse but inspired thrust stage
setting by its new theater arts design professor Nate Sinnott. Supported by an artful
costume crew, excellent manipulation of lights and sound and a mood-appropriate
score by composer Chris Hoag, the sounds and sights of the play lift the entire
proceedings into a rare theatrical experience.
The handsome multilevel stage is dotted with boxes of varying sizes, related to each
other by their decorative molding and glowing interior lights that change with the
moods and passions of the tale. A few sturdy tables and chairs are brought in briefly
and just as efficiently removed without interrupting the flow of the action. A narrow
balcony at the back of the stage serves as space for a few brief scenes, and is wellused to spotlight individuals lining its width as plot developments are noted. The style
is beautiful simplicity energized by sharp technical skills, and it gives the players a
fascinating and functional support for their roles. More than 75 student are listed as
assisting with the set construction.
Freshman Jordan Stidham fits comfortably into the title role, making Prince Pericles an
earnest man of action who manages to scramble out of bad situations with sure-footed
ease. Most of the other actors double as members of the ensemble, playing courtiers,
courtesans, seamen, rulers and connivers, and some play multiple roles requiring swift
changes of costume and attack. Pericles first meets the King of Antioch in an effort to
win his daughter by solving a riddle, then realizing the shame in the solution decides
instead to return to Tyre. Ryan Capriccio, who plays the imperious Antiochus in the
opening scenes returns late in the play as Pandar, the all-business partner in the
bordello.
T.J. Alvarado, who first appears as Cleon, the noble governor of the famine-enduring
Tarsus, then becomes a fisherman, and finally Periclesʼ host at one of the final stops.
The most vivid character change is achieved by Alex Colello, who is the lively King
Simonides, whose daughter Thaisa Pericles marries then loses at sea, and later the
bent-over, sly servant intent on carrying out orders to defile Marina, daughter of
Pericles and Thaisa. The girl has been thrown into the bordello by Cleonʼs wife
Dionyza, who feels her own daughter has been pushed aside in favor of Marina, left
with them as a baby by our hero as he ventured forth again.
Among those playing single roles impressively are Amanda Wallace as the evil
Dionyza, Kayla Bailey as the lovely and devoted Thaisa, Kelly Derouin as the strongwilled Marina, and Megan Cordero as the faithful courtier Helicanus. But it really isnʼt
fair to single out the actors when the dignity and strength of the entire ensemble adds
power to the play.
Highly effective scenes include the battles in the court of Antioch, in which men
seeking the hand of the princess are poised on large boxes at either side of the stage
and pushed toward the center by the multi-tasking ensemble until they symbolically
triumph. Enacted in slow motion, the battles become all the more memorable.
Applause, too, is earned by the multiple hands that ripple the turbulent sea, a silky
stretch of soft and flowing fabric, and who also hold it tightly when the figure of the
goddess Diana rises in dark silhouette from inside the cocoon to offer direction to
Pericles. Jessica Butenschon plays Diana, plus Antiochusʼs wife and daughter.
“Pericles” the play may not grip you, but the evocative staging is bound to rivet your
attention. Thursday nightʼs opening performance also featured Arndt as the scenesetter and narrator John Gower, a 14th-century poet and contemporary of Chaucer
whose telling of the tale was the source on which “Pericles” is based.
— E-mail Rita Moran at [email protected].
© 2011 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online