In an exclusive U.S. engagement, the Royal Shakespeare Company has returned to Chicago Shakespeare Theater for the first time in three decades with a profoundly satisfying production of Pericles in which the top-flight troupe and director Tamara Harvey bring Shakespeare’s cracking adventure to vibrant life.
So moved was the audience at Friday’s opening performance that they spontaneously burst into applause at several moments beyond the typical intermission and curtain call ovations. In his hilarious, heart-warming turn as the good King Simonides, Christian Patterson even gave the audience a hand signal and a droll head shake during one (perhaps) unexpected outpouring of affection to tell everyone to settle down, leading to a huge laugh. At the end of this astonishing night, the response was so sustained that the cast came back out for a second round of bows. This was a special night at the theater.
Beyond Patterson, certainly a crowd favorite who made the audience his personal plaything, Zach Wyatt embodied a Pericles of subtlety who tapped a deep emotional reservoir as he first fled an assassin sent by Antiochus (a cunning Felix Hayes bringing to mind an ancient Trump) when he twigged to the king’s incestuous relationship to his daughter and then embarked on a voyage that would bring him to the highest of highs and the depths of despair. Shipwrecks, betrayal, betrothal, conception, tragic loss and miraculous reclamation of all the good things in his life thanks to the favor of mischievous gods–Wyatt plays every beat as a fully grounded, flesh-and-blood man reacting with the truest joy, grief and disbelief to each turn of fortune’s wheel.
As his daughter, Marina, Rachelle Diedericks is such a convincing paragon of good and decency that it’s easy to believe one of the play’s most unbelievable conceits–that, sold into prostitution, she is able to maintain her chastity by talking one would-be john after another into repenting and helping her instead of violating her. (The two-step of her ending up gladly married to one of them remains problematic, but Kel Matsena gives us a Lysimachus so inherently decent that we’re inclined to forgive him.)
In Helicanus, Philip Bird provides Pericles with the most understanding and supportive mentor and friend one could wish for. As Thaisa, the daughter of Simonides who falls hard for a down-on-his-luck Pericles and helps restore his love of life by becoming his wife, Leah Haile creates a palpable bond with Wyatt, who is in his first season with the RSC. Their great chemistry will survive many calamities.
I could write a paragraph in praise of every cast member. They display a command of Shakespeare that delivers one delightful moment on top of another. I can’t wait for the RSC’s next visit. We can only hope it comes soon. Meanwhile, see this Pericles while you can.
Pericles runs through December 7 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Johan Persson
