Posthumus Work
To be or not to be parody is the question at Box Theater.
Cymbeline is a play that might make even seasoned Shakespeare watchers wonder what the heck is going on. Like the playwright's other late works (including The Winter's Tale and Pericles, Prince of Tyre), the play is written in knotty, obscure verse that flagrantly disregards both iambic pentameter and dramatic conventions. Some brave souls have dared call it bad. Cymbeline is a king of Britain during Roman times, but even though the play's named for him, he has only a tiny role in the play and his offstage influence is negligible. The play begins with the king banishing his adopted son, Posthumus, for marrying his daughter Imogen against his wishes. Cymbeline wants Imogen to marry his new wife's doltish son, and the new queen is willing to kill people to make it happen. In the meantime, the exiled Posthumus makes a bet with an unsavory Italian named Iachimo that his wife can resist anyone's attempts to seduce her. On the way to a finale filled with outrageous coincidences and revelations, we get a headless corpse, royal descendants living in a cave, a heroine who flees from court disguised as a boy, a war for independence, and a weird scene where Iachimo sneaks into Imogen's bedroom while she sleeps... and starts writing down the room's dimensions and décor. How do you approach a play like this? Box Theater, formerly located in Euless, is staging it as an outright self-parody on the Bard's part. If you think you know Shakespeare, this should confuse you thoroughly.
|
|
|
