AISLE
SAY New York
CYMBELINE
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Mark Lamos
Starring John Cullum, Martha Plimpton,
Michael Cerveris, Phylicia Rashad, John Pankow
Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center
150 East 65th Street
www.lct.org
Given
that Cymbeline is one
of the Bard’s lesser-performed “problem plays” and that the director of its
latest area mounting is Mark Lamos,
a regional notable, whose NYC productions have been (in my experience) rarely
better than unremarkably efficient, the production currently playing at Lincoln
Center is far better than you’d
expect it to be.
This
odd tale (named equally oddly for a secondary character) in which both royal
family and romantic loyalties are tested (at first with mercenarily falsified
results), seems to have been written a bit on automatic pilot, as if Shakespeare threw in as many familiar conventions as he could
in an effort to meet a deadline, or to “solve” a structure that was plaguing
him by simply finishing the
damn thing one way or another—and Mr. Lamos seems to have that in the
back of his mind. In the tone of his production, he forthrightly confronts
narrative quirks and clumsy exposition so that, rather than roll our eyes in
impatience, we feel let in on the joke. Which is to say, no one’s trying to
sell us a bill of goods. This isn’t great Shakespeare, but enough of it is fun
Shakespeare to give us a decent evening. Not that Mr. Lamos has it played for
laughs; he honors the real stakes of each situation…but he understands the
value of tongue-in-cheek that doesn’t violate verisimilitude.
The
ensemble is a mixed bag that ranges from stalwartly reliable (the ubiquitous Herb
Foster the iconic representation
of that category) to juicily engaging, and under that heading, more than a few
of the leads can take their bow, among them Martha Plimpton, Phylicia Rashad, Michael Cerveris, John Pankow and John Cullum.
A
must see? Not so much. A you won’t be sorry…? Much more like, if you know going in that it is
what it is. Plus, it’s opulently presented and pretty to look at. Which beats
being pursued by a bear. (Oh, wait, that’s The Winter’s Tale. Oh well…)