“The Amazing Adventures of Pericles” introduce us to new faces of the Comedy of Fools!!

 

The Amazing adventures of Pericles: Prince of Tyre By William Shakespeare, adapted by the Comedy of Fools, directed by Catriona Leger

This is the  breathtaking adventure of the  Prince who finds himself  fleeing the anger of  King Antiochus and  setting out  to hide from the hired killer who is  pursuing him around an imaginary image of the Hellenistic world  from Tarsus, to Pentapolis. They continue  across the great sea to  Ephesus where shipwrecks, storms and much disaster separate him from his wife (whom all believe has died) .   Pericles then  comes into contact with the temple of Diana and the Middle eastern world of Dr. Cermion.  Fourteen years pass, Pericles’ daughter Marina has grown into a lovely young lady but before the nasty jealous Queen Dionyza can do away with Pericles’ daughter , terrifying  pirates  kidnap her and sell her to the  brothels of  Mytilene,  where she is befriended by  Lysimachus the kind governor. And so it goes until all are united at the end.  It’s  easy to immerse oneself  in this humungous mixture of plots and adventures and catastrophes and encounters of the most fabulous nature that suggest a twisted sort of Odyssey where all the themes and characters of all those  epic tales inflame the imagination of young men. And Shakespeare was no exception.

 

It is all performed by six actors playing 45 roles.   It  could be  hard to figure out because they all whizz by so quickly but since  Al Connors only plays Pericles, he becomes the  pillar of the  production and keeps us on track even though  his adventures shift us from one place to the  next, from one catastrophe to the next, as wigs and costumes, accents and marvellous props  change around him  with lightning speed .

Luckily, director Catriona Leger and her six actors  keep the text accessible. Emphasis is placed on the meaningful sentences, rhythms are maintained, personalities shift, accents are clear and characters clearly blossom out of this mass of movement that maintains our attention nonstop.

Some of the highlights worth mentioning: The court poet who is Shakespeare’s  narrator is transformed into a chorus spoken and sung by the team of  actors.   At times that appeared to slow down the movement of the play because the chorus did not maintain the comic energy of the ensemble. In that case stronger narrative voices were needed but that did not happen. However Pierre Brault in his inimitable way set the pace for the acting. One of our most versatile actors in Ottawa, he  has a real comic gift. His rhythm and sense of mimic brought all his  characters to life from the most evil, to the  kindest and the  most perverse, he was a pleasure to watch and he even plays the guitar!  Mary Ellis also shifted from the seedy Antiochus to Pericles’ beautiful wife Thaisa ,  finally blooming as the vestal of the goddess of Diana. These highly experienced professionals  brought much solidity to the  team which was  necessary in the context of this  fantasy nightmare that whisked us off to a land that emerged out of this  mish mash of adventures and acting styles.

But the biggest surprises  were the  faces of the younger performers who appeared for the first  time on the Fool’s stage. Jennifer Cecil as the fussy, nasty Dionyza was superbly funny.  Already, a voluptuous Queen reigning in a land of starving people was a funny/nasty statement about her selfishness and her style of kvetching that was hilarious. She and the quiet subdued husband Cleon (Pierre Brault) made an excellent team.   She quickly set the stage for her transformation into the wicked witch of the play with a good sense of far out comedy that never went overboard.  Mekdes Teshome moved beautifully and was a delicate specimen who, with a slight tendency to overact, shifted easily  from the evil  Dr Cerimon to the wise Helicana. She seemed be less suited to the wild kind of comedy that defines this company even though she did use her face , her voice and her whole body in a most expressive way. One would want to see her in other more serious roles just to see what she would do with them.

Finally I was quite enthralled by Mahalia Golnosh Tahrirha who is a natural! She seems to have great comic instincts and  knows how to use her whole physical presence  in most unassuming but totally convincing ways, capitalizing on her shifting facial expressions that make one feel she is really laughing at them all and having a great time at everyone else’s expense.   She even plays the violin beautifully..

The Company has found a group of newcomers that add much to their image  and I hope we see them  all again. As for this production, it is certainly worth seeing .   The set (Stephanie  Dahmer Brett)  is reduced to its most minimal expression  which helps their moving across the city. The costumes (Vanessa Imeson)  are extremely appropriate and suggest the variety of worlds into which Pericles tumbles during his unfortunate adventures. A good show for the whole family.  Bring your own snack and your own pillows and blankets. It makes for a lovely evening but this is  not  for very young children.  Ideal ages would be from about 8 to far beyond.

See the schedule on the Company of Fools web site as it moves around the city. Plays July 4 to August 20. See schedule on the site..     http://fools.ca/2016/04/25/torchlight-shakespeare-pericles/