Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-Upon-Avon – until 27th May 2023
Reviewed by Amarjeet Singh
4****
An empty stage, bar a huge, full moon. Cymbeline is King of Britain, married to a Queen. They each have a child from previous relationships, The King, a daughter, the wilful and feisty Imogen, The Queen, a son, the boorish, entitled Cloten. Cymbeline adopted an orphan boy, Posthumus Leonatus and brought him up as his own. Imogen and Posthumus Leonatus, become lovers, the King objects as Posthumus Leonatus has no royal lineage and is therefore proclaimed an unworthy match for Imogen. The Queen believes her son, Cloten, should marry Imogen and he would thus secure the crown. She is also ensuring this by commissioning the doctor, Cornelius to supply poison to enable her in her dastardly deeds. Cornelius, suspicious, swaps the poison for a sleeping potion.
Cymbeline, had two sons, Imogen’s brothers, Guiderius and Arviragus, who were taken as babies, by the banished Lord Belarius, as an act of revenge against Cymbeline for the banishment. Cymbeline, a fan of banishing, banishes Posthumus Leonatus to Italy, where he encounters Iachimo, a Roman lord, who, tired of hearing Posthumus Leonatus brag about his lady and her virtues, wagers that he could seduce her with ease. Affronted, Posthumus Leonatus accepts, confident that Imogen would stay true and thus off trots Iachimo to try his best with Imogen, vowing to bring back indisputable evidence of his conquest. His wit and charm not influencing Imogen’s chastity, Iachimo enters Imogen’s bedchamber via a chest and records details about the room and, non-consensually, her body, as well as stealing the bracelet Posthumus Leonatus gave her. Upon receiving these, Posthumus Leonatus orders Pisanio, his loyal servant to kill Imogen. Knowing Imogen to be innocent, Pisanio helps Imogen to disguise herself as a man and flee.
I could continue, there is a lot of story to Cymbeline so it’s difficult to explain it in a nutshell. A headless corpse, a roman battle, and even the god Jupiter descending from the heavens. Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare’s last plays and is akin to a greatest hits album. It’s more plot than play, there is not enough time for all these storylines to be fully realised so you end up with a confusing mash-up of several of Shakespeare’s other plays. Cymbeline’s relationship with his daughter Imogen suggests Lear and Cordelia in King Lear, while Iachimo gives glimmers of Iago in Othello, the sleeping potion taken mistakenly is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet and Imogen’s cross-dressing recalls Shakespeare’s comedies.
Therefore, Gregory Doran’s production is triumphant in its general coherence. Clearly sectioned into 3 acts it allows the 3 and a half hour play to be told simply and traditionally. A fitting swan song for Doran, its uncluttered with no elaborate sets, sounds, or staging. There are key dramatic moments, a rain-washed battlefield, Gods descending from the heavens, puppets and dream sequences. The paring back of the main set make the staging of these moments really pack a punch. The lighting is effective especially when paired with the full moon.
However, there are elements which missed the mark for me. The performances are excellent throughout, some are outstanding others left me puzzled. Without deviating from the text, these characters could have been given more depth. Alexandra Gilbreath’s Queen was superb but then quickly descended into a pantomime villain, losing an element of true threat. Conor Glean’s Cloten is played with the petulance of a three-year-old. It’s relentless, we never get a sense of the aggressive threat he levies at Imogen. When he describes the act of sexual assault/rape on Imogen, the audience was laughing as there was no sign of his tyranny in this production. Jamie Wilkes puts in a tremendous performance as Iachimo, but so likeable and charming is he, that the audience was laughing when he, without consent, explores Imogen’s body. Strange choices to not pause or find some artistic tell to let the audience know of their sinister machinations. The most troubling though was Amber James’ performance as Imogen, Cymbeline’s daughter. Word perfect, crying on point, but there was no change in energy. Tightly wound, aggressive and always ready for a fight, there was no softness or femininity, no ebb and flow. Therefore, when she disguises herself as a man there is no remarkable change, and this has an impact on the story. For all these characters, beyond the mess of the plot, there is no light and dark to their performances, so it made them difficult to believe.
This aside, this production of Cymbeline is a riotous romp. The last scene may feel interminable, but maybe this was Shakespeare’s intention. At a time when plays were being threatened by other forms of entertainment, up and coming playwrights were hot on his heels, Shakespeare was trying to give you more bang for your buck. It is unquestionably all entirely worth it by the end.