Life breathed into little-known tale

Myths and legends are the essence of Pericles. Photo / Beren Allen

This year's Summer Shakespeare strays off the beaten track with a season of the colourful romance Pericles.

A14th-century poet risen from the dead, an incestuous king, a hero fleeing a ruthless assassin, violent storms and shipwrecks, corrupt rulers, death-defying escapes, fighting, famine, plundering pirates, innocent girls sold into prostitution, births and deaths, family lost and found, and the dead awakening to rejoin the living - this is Shakespeare as Aucklanders have never seen him.

Rather than attempting to bring a fresh interpretation to a Shakespearean favourite - such as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, Othello, Hamlet or Macbeth - this year's University of Auckland Summer Shakespeare is a play that has never been professionally staged in Auckland.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre follows a young prince on the run for his life and who must summon all his resources to survive events beyond his control. Like other plays written in Shakespeare's later years (Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest) Pericles is strongly influenced by Greek myths and legends, and fairytales. Despite its fast-paced and action-packed scenes, Pericles is regarded as a romance which, in keeping with the time it was written (1608-09), focuses more on the separation and reunion of families than love and marriage.

It was one of the plays put forward to would-be directors and producers by the Auckland University Students Association Summer Shakespeare Trust for this year's season.

English professor and trust member Tom Bishop says the list included Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor and A Winter's Tale. Trust members wanted a play that would be markedly different from last year's 50th anniversary production of King Lear and would continue to show the variety of Shakespeare's work.

Although it is one of his lesser-known works, Pericles has at times been one of Shakespeare's most successful plays. For reasons unknown, it was omitted from the 1623 Folio collection of Shakespeare's works but was printed four times before then. However, the script on which these editions are based may have been pirated or taken from the recollections of someone who saw the play or acted in it.

Professor Bishop, editor of Pericles for the Internet Shakespeare Editions (internetshakespeare.uvic.ca), says parts of the script seem confused, possibly because the play was a collaboration with another writer (George Wilkins is the most likely candidate).

The ISA edition includes an old-spelling text and a modern one with extensive explanatory notes.

Professor Bishop says though Pericles is not well known now, it was undoubtedly popular in the past, judging by the number of times it was reprinted.

Director Geoff Allen likes to say it's the film script Shakespeare would have written had the medium been around in his day. He says that, despite appearing in and directing Shakespeare's plays, he knew nothing about Pericles.

Intrigued, he read it twice and became increasingly enthusiastic about how to stage it for the first time in Auckland.

"It's a populist form of story based on very old forms of storytelling: the hero quest where the journey provides great scope and theatricality. I think Shakespeare was experimenting with a different form, looking for ways to be more dynamic and fast-moving.

"There seems to be more of a concern with exploring the ways stories can be told in the theatre."

Professor Bishop says trust members liked Allen's engagement with the text and his powerful vision for staging it, which is exciting, emotional and highly entertaining.

Aided by Professor Bishop and Shakespeare aficionado Michael Hurst, Allen says they have tightened the script and moved scenes around.

They have also swapped the gender of some characters and introduced elements such as a covers band, providing a live soundtrack which includes music by the Black Keys, Macklemore and the White Stripes. Hurst has choreographed fight scenes, taking inspiration from The Hunger Games.

Performance

What: Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Where and when: Old Arts Quad, University of Auckland, February 28-March 22