Not the Orlando Shakespeare Center, but a darn impressive performance.   That is how I would sum up Mad Cow’s production of Shakespeare’s Pericles.    If you are not familiar with this particular work, I suggest a quick visit over to Wiki to read the play synopsis.   You actually will recognize the story as it has been done time and time again, the prince must answer the riddle to get the princess, but it really is never that easy. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pericles%2C_Prince_of_Tyre

Shakespeare work “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” is considered by many to be a blend of a tragedy/comedy, and you may also see it listed as a “Romance” which to me is the better category.  The play has the feel, action, and emotion of a tragedy, but the hero ends up in a happy state of affairs.   I wouldn’t consider this one of the easier of the bard plays to follow, and probably not recommended for newbies unless you could see it at OSC which is generally edited and adjusted for a novice fan. 

To Mad Cow’s credit, they did not appear to edit much of the text if any at all.  They fit a 5 act play in 3 hours pausing only once for a 15 minute break.  The play moved along swiftly with the actors never actually leaving the room, but freezing in the 4 corners with their back turns.  This afforded them a quick costume change (usually a collar of a different color depicting the kingdom they were in at the time) and helped keep the action flowing.   The set was a simple half moon shaped wooden object that could be rested on every side with a differing effect.   The position of the object represented the land or water in the scene.  

Extremely impressive were the acting abilities of the 9 member cast playing all 20+ roles.  Each took a turn as king, queen or princess and they did an exceptional job of embodying the spirit of each character.   Michael Marinaccio played Pericles, and Tommy Keesling as Gower,  they were the only cast  members  to play single roles.     Top performances were given by Jo Crandall as Helicanus and Boult.  He did a remarkable job flowing between these polar personalities.  Sarah Lockard was an enchanting Marina and by many accounts dominated the stage.  Top honors must also be given to Mark Edward Smith as Simionides, Michael who as mentioned played Pericles, Tommy Keesling as Gower and Heather Ross ad Dionyza and Bawd.   Superb abilities, and impressive that they must have had to memorize the entire text.

As for the look and feel of the play, honorable mention must be given to the water scene with the two flowing flags.   I was also stunned by how really engaging the show was considering we were in a small rectangular room with no sets and a row full of chairs around all 4 sides.  I had expected to feel left out of 3/4ths of the play as the action would be facing another direction, but the set blocking and staging worked so well.  No matter where you were in that room, you could feel part of the action. 

As for the few opportunities, there could have been some better direction with regards to the humorous aspects of the text.  Shakespeare is after all really funny, and this was yet another absurdly farcical story.  Yet there were not enough antics, exaggerations or pauses of laughter  to really capture the beautiful humor that makes me love the OSC.   OK, I know I’m comparing but that’s really the point isn’t it.  Some Shakespeare is done seriously, which is impressive.  But what sets apart the superior performances is when the director can capture the spirit of the bard.  He was after all playing to the base and bawdy masses of renaissance England.  Shakespeare’s plays should be adapted to appeal to the base and bawdy nature of the modern audiences.   Jim Helsinger, and the other directors at OSC, seem to do this with ease.  I think Denise Gillman missed the mark here on comedy. 

In summation, a great night at the theatre, an impressive performance and wow just $20 bucks. And boy, we sure cannot get enough Shakespeare here in Central Florida to assuage my compulsion.  This was the last weekend, but the next time Mad Cow chooses a bards tale, don’t miss it.