‘Cymbeline’

Theatre Intime at Princeton University tackles one of Shakespeare’s romantics.

By: Stuart Duncan

Kate Miller appears in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.

   Cymbeline is one of William Shakespeare’s last plays, falling into a category scholars call "the romantics." There are only three in the group: the others are The Winter’s Tale and his final work, The Tempest.
   Cymbeline is the least-performed and there is good reason for that: it has a plot that is more convoluted than Lombard Street in San Francisco (and not as much fun), plus characters that, for the most part, are not memorable; that doesn’t leave an audience with much to admire.
   First performed in 1611 or 1612, and taken from The Decameron by Boccaccio, it has been described as a play "of love and betrayal, reunion and forgiveness, with one of the most satisfying conclusions in all of literature." And that’s not to mention two lost brothers, a lost sister, a wicked queen with a clod for a son that she is insisting on pushing for King, enough mistaken identities to fill a full folio plus the usual Elizabethan tricks of a girl pretending to be a lad, the faithful servant refusing to slay his young mistress, and on and on.
   The work is set in ancient England, Wales and Rome, and if you listen very closely you might hear a couple of Shakespeare’s most famous phrases: "I have not slept one wink" or "The game is up." Both in the same scene, actually.
   Theatre Intime on the Princeton University campus and director Jed Peterson have come up with some intriguing snippets to make the play more accessible and acceptable to audiences. Mr. Peterson began by cutting the dreck from the script (the original is 29,054 words in length), and he blends modern with the ancient — a company of a baker’s dozen dressed in more or less modern attire, dominated by black and white. They march down the aisles at the beginning to fill the first row of the intimate theater, climbing on stage when needed for a scene and then settling back as spectators when not needed. Moreover, to move the first few scenes along with dispatch, Mr. Peterson uses a bellhop’s bell to signal quick changes of place and characters — very effective and light-hearted.
   You need pay attention only to a few of the characters: Posthumous (Andy Brown in a very nice performance) and Imogen, his wife (Kate Miller, who might profit by slowing down, especially when in a fury); Iachimo, the villain (Alex Limpaecher, who steals much of the first act with sly slivers of evil, particularly in the boudoir scene); Cloten (Arthur Burkle), dumb as a post, but very funny; and, of course, Cymbeline (J. Paul Stephens, properly pompous).
   You won’t remember the plot as you stroll back up the aisle after the two hours (plus an intermission), but that’s all right; you will be one of the few in your neighborhood to have seen Cymbeline at all.
Cymbeline continues at the Hamilton-Murray Theater, Murray-Dodge Hall, Princeton University, through April 2. Performances: Thurs.-Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $12, $10 seniors/faculty/staff, $6 students/children. For information, call (609) 258-1742. On the Web: www.theatreintime.org