Is it pantomime? Is it a musical? Is it a physical theatre piece? Is it a radical re-telling of Shakespeares Pericles, Prince of Tyre? No its a bad amalgamation of all four. This is a production which has no idea of what signals it is sending out to the audience and although at points seems to entertain, it certainly does not live up to its promise as an innovative and challenging piece of physical theatre.
Pericles Redux is the story of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, whom after discovering that King Antiochus is having an incestuous affair with his daughter flees and embarks on an adventure which takes him into the arms of his future wife and brings him a daughter whom he then tragically loses, only to be reconciled with in the final moments.
We open with a lovely movement piece between Pericles and three shirtless men (The Fates) as they leap and circle, rolling and lifting in a ballet of virile agility to the background of swirling strings and the stage is set for a production of visual inventiveness and beauty. However as this piece develops a mis-matched blend of art forms emerges, we have dancers, actors, clowns, but very rarely all three in one, making this a show which instead of fusing movement, music and text, clashes the three in an ungainly mess of narrative.
We see crude and over the top pimps and prostitutes, sailors and princes who are intended to be funny but instead just seem as ill fitting as the pimps sock and flip flop combination. The moments of physical beauty such as Marina growing up are completely overshadowed by this and it is a real shame that the comedy is of such a crude standard when the movement is so impressive.
However I have to concede that a number of the audience seemed to be enjoying it, and at several points people laughed so maybe this was just not a production for me. Nonetheless I believe that the fact that they have an episodic explanation of what happens in Pericles Redux in the programme speaks volumes about the standard of cohesive storytelling that they have achieved on stage and more importantly, about their own lack of faith in it.
