New, Improved Shakespeare

THE ORIGINAL PERICLES is a bad play. It is the syrupy-sweet story of "the paynfull adventures of a Gentleman of Tyre" only scarcely joined together in a scattered plot. The play has been attributed to a handful of people and Shakespeare is said to have written very little of it, so there is no sacrilege in the efforts of Randy Echols to rewrite and improve. The production at the Loeb Ex makes a success out of the doctored script with several Leob veterans who have coordinated their schedules to produce a cast of rare balance.

Tom Wright plays the Chorus, John Gower, with a comic subtlety which is a delightful change from Elizabethan bombastics. Like the rest of the cast he spares the audience inexpert attempts at British English, a wise decision on the part of the director Kathy Placzek. Wright's part is an open trap to overacting, but he makes no attempt to steal attention from the action of the play. Diana Chase plays a superbly wicked Dionyza, which she accents with a very low neckline and feline movements. It is probably unfair to list the attributes of the principals, for this cast shares equally in the success of the play, but Gary Watkins is a good actor who makes the best of an uninspiring role as Pericles, and Eden Murray is a convincing Marina.

The skillfully tightened plot and imaginative details of direction make the pasteboard figures of the original Pericles into fuller, livelier characters. Pericles becomes almost a spoof as a paragon of nobility, rising early to practice his jousting while the other revelers of the night before stagger on stage with crushing hangovers. Dionyza's jealousy becomes a real facet of personality in the slinky character onstage, while in the original it is an awkward device to advance the plot. Sections of the new play are quite comic, but the heroes are never ludicrous. This is a difficult task for any company to accomplish, and the success of the Leob Ex production indicates the calibre of the actors.

The Thursday night premiere of Echols's play was marred by thunderous scene changes which almost drowned out Tom Wright's speech, but the sets were worth suffering for. To bring such an enormous change of setting onto such a small stage is no easy task, and despite some last minute construction the sets were amusing and effective. The little boat in which Pericles plies the unfriendly oceans first evoked laughter from the audience, but careful direction made it a suitable vehicle for serious scenes.

Tonight is the last performance of this rewritten or imitation Shakespeare. It is a better Shakespeare than the original, played by actors who enjoy what they are doing and are good at it. With the requisite sentimental plot spaced by bawdy humor, Pericles is a play well worth seeing.