Pericles at the California Shakespeare Theatre, 2008  

                                          STAGING PERICLES

This fanciful, rambling play, about the misadventures of a royal wanderer (nothing to do with the celebrated Athenian politician), greatly appealed to Shakespeare's original audiences, to the indignation of his friend and rival Ben Jonson. Not included in the First Folio, its questionable authorship and erratic plot (Gallery 2.3.28-9) ensured its neglect, but its unfamiliarity and eccentricity excite modern audiences, who revel in the Levantine exoticism of its settings and the alternating perversity and charm of the father/daughter relationships (Gallery 8.1.25-9). Its heroines, Thaisa, and her charming daughter, Marina, are very endearing while they cope with extraordinary misfortunes, and all ends happily, except for the villains. Shakespeare would have known the tomb of its Chorus, the poet Gower, in what is now Southwark cathedral, near the Globe Theatre. HMR

The poet John Gower as Chorus in Pericles.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alexander, Peter, editor, Pericles, London: BBC, 1984.

Billington, Michael, Pericles (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London, 2003) at: www.guardian Unlimited/Arts critic/review/ Pericles

Campbell, Kathleen."Reviving Pericles." Shakespeare and the Classroom 4,1 (1996): 32-35.

Clover, Brian, Pericles (Shakespeare's Globe, London, 2005) at: http://www.curtainup.com/pericleslond.html

Darcy, "' Pericles" [reviews Nebraska Shakespeare Festival Pericles 6/23-7/10/2005] Shakespeare Bulletin 24.1 (Spring, 2006) 100-3.

Del Vecchio, Doreen; Hammond, Antony, editors, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Evans, R., "Pericles , Prince of Tyre, Public Theatre, New York, 8 December, 1991”  Theatre Journal 57.3 (2005) 517-9.

Gossett, Suzanne, "'Tell Thy Story": Mary Zinmmerman's Pericles"  Shakespeare Quarterly 57.2 (Summer, 2006) 183-94.

Gutman, Les, Pericles, (Public Theater New York 1998) at: www.curtainup.com/pericles.html

Internet Shakespeare Editions, "List of Performances Related to Pericles," in Pericles Home Page, at Library/plays/Per.html

Kennicott, Philip, "Pericles: a Play that Demands a Bard Attitude" [Mary Zimmerman, directior, the Shakespeare Theatre], Washington Post, Sunday November 7, 2004, page NO1.

Michael, Nancy C. Pericles: An Annotated Bibliography, New York: Garland, 1987.

Nelsen, Paul. "Shot from the Canon: The BBC Video of Pericles ." Pericles: Critical Essays . Ed. David Skeele. New York: Garland, 2000. 297-324.

Skeele, David, editor. Pericles: Critical Essays. New York and London: Garland-Taylor and Francis, 2000.

Skeele, David, Thwarting the Wayward Seas: A Critical and Theatrical
History of Shakespeare's Pericles in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries. Newark: University of Delaware Press; London: Associated University Presses, 1998.

Sorgenfrei, Caro Fisher, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" [review of performance in Japanese, directed by Ninagawa Yukio: Olivier Theatre of National Theatre, London, 4/5/2003] Asian Theatre Journal 21.1 (Spring, 2004)116-8.

Warren, Roger, editor, A Reconstructed Text of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Pericles at the Greek Theatre, U.C. Berkeley, 1982.