This month, Highland Park on a balmy summer night will provide a pleasant atmosphere to go on an adventure with one of Shakespeare’s least-performed plays.
The Rochester Community Players began its Shakespeare Program in 1994, and an annual summer “Shakespeare in the Park,” performed in the Highland Park Bowl, followed soon after, in 1997. “Pericles” will be the 26th summer production (there was none during the pandemic year of 2020), and RCP’s first production of the play. This won’t be its first performance in Rochester —the University of Rochester presented “Pericles” in the 1980s—but it will probably be most Rochesterians’ first encounter with this play.
A classic fairy tale of bravery, loss and love, shipwrecks and pirates, death-defying challenges and Shakespearian poetry will be on stage in free performances Wednesday through Sunday at 8 p.m., July 12-27. When Prince Pericles undertakes a quest to win a princess, it leads instead to adventures full of gallantry, love, and hardship. Years later, his long-lost daughter Marina faces her own treacherous journey. But after much ado, Pericles and Marina reach a deserved happy ending.
In the body of Shakespeare’s plays, “Pericles” is accurately described as a romance, but in truth, no one knows how much of this play is by Shakespeare. It was not included in the first printed collection of his plays, and the first two acts may have been written at an earlier time, by different authors.
The play is also a handful to present coherently. Its story is told in swiftly changing scenes that take place in several different countries, on board a storm-tossed ship, in palaces, and even in a bordello. The cast has more than 50 roles, from its noble hero and heroine, to treacherous villains, fishermen and pirates, but in RCP’s production they will be played by 15 agile actors in multiple roles.
“For a 21st century audience, Shakespeare can feel inaccessible,” says director Kathryn Rebholz, “but our ‘Pericles’ has many elements that people will recognize visually.”
She envisioned this sprawling story from the beginning, and a way to fill the large Highland Bowl stage.
“I saw the play as an animated, episodic TV show—one miniature episode following another. Visually, I wanted the presentation to be large and colorful. I wanted it to have the quality of a children’s pop-up book come to life—a storybook world,” Rebholz says. “The plot has many bizarre elements—for example, in one scene pirates appear out of nowhere and have about three lines of dialogue—but in cases like that I decided it would be more fun to lean into the absurdity of the story.”
Replacing heavy scenery are two-dimensional props, set pieces, and some costume items made of corrugated cardboard. The whimsical, brightly colored pieces, ranging from bouquets, crowns, and swords to a beautiful blue sea and some Dr. Seuss-like green fish, are designed by Lizz K.d., RCP properties manager.
Edward Byrne, who plays Pericles, sees his character as “an archetypal hero, as in the ancient Greek stories. The plot happens around him.”
He is a noble man and ruler, but Byrne adds, “the conflicts in his character make him compelling and interesting to play. We see him contending with many catastrophes and being not altogether heroic—questioning whether he can live up to his own virtues and values. By the end of the play, he has no one left; he’s truly at his lowest point.”
At that point, he is finally reunited with Marina in a brief but powerful scene, as father and daughter gradually realize at different times that they know things about one another that only they could know. This scene is a challenge to play, says Byrne: “You ramp up the emotion more and more, the energy grows higher and higher, and then we have the recognition and celebration. It’s captivating.”
Corinna Mullins plays Marina. “Pericles” is her third RCP Shakespeare production.
“I’d never heard of ‘Pericles,’” she says, “but I am liking it a lot, all the emotional highs and lows. There are definitely some heavy topics in this play, but it’s also a lot of fun.”
Marina isn’t even born until the end of Act Two (quite dramatically, on shipboard during a terrible storm), so Mullins will appear onstage as a knight before appearing as Marina, age 14, in Acts Three through Five.
“We never see what shaped her, up to that age,” she says, “but we see throughout that she is a good person who tries to see the good in everyone.”
In the tradition of fairytale heroines, Marina has a very stressful but charmed, life. Evil characters want to kill her; she is also sold to a bordello, but her innate goodness saves her from a fate worse than death.
But in Mullins’ words, Marina always “bounces back—she’s hopeful and persistent to the end, when she does get her happy ending.”
David Raymond is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer. The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. Submissions to the Letters page should be sent to [email protected].