James Wilson takes a look at Cymbeline, from NAATCO and Play on Shakespeare:
George Bernard Shaw famously dubbed Shakespeare's Cymbeline "stagey trash of the lowest melodramatic order." Appalled by the ludicrous coincidences and tangled plot lines, Shaw rewrote the last act of the play, which he titled Cymbeline Refinished. The playlet premiered in London in 1937. A new version of Cymbeline, playing at Classic Stage Company's Lynn F. Angelson Theater and presented by NAATCO in partnership with Play on Shakespeare, features a modern verse translation by Andrea Thome and, thankfully, retains the stagey trash of the original. Performed by a company of eleven Asian American women, this production playfully leans into the melodramatic flourishes while emphasizing the fairy-tale-like qualities of the original. Yet, while the new version is more accessible for contemporary audiences, it lacks the poetry and magical lunacy of Shakespeare's original. |
