Shakespeare Northwest delights with second show
By Lily Olason
We’re lucky that the folks at Shakespeare Northwest give us
a three-part festival. The Merchant of
Vegas ran Tuesday, and last
night dazzled with the classic Cymbeline.
People have a hard time deciding if this is a comedy, a tragedy, or
a dramedy. And I think that suits it just fine.
The love story drips with backstory and plot. But for the
Bard hath written it heretofore, here’s the skinny: Evil queen marries
unassuming king with a daughter named Imogen, and tries to get the crown all
for her greedy self.
 |
| Photo credit - Christopher Key |
Caroline Rensel makes a perfect choice for the role of
Imogen. She brings vocal clarity, masterful presence, and a youthful exuberance
unconquerable by all the horrible things that happen to her character. Her
rather distrusting husband Posthumus is played by James Brown, who brings a
commendable and searing, love-scorned agony to the part, tempered only by the
occasional and explosive duel.
 |
| Photo credit - Christopher Key |
Trey Hatch plays dad to Imogen as King Cymbeline. Hatch,
who also plays the Duke in The Merchant
of Vegas, gives a great authority figure: lines and energy are delivered
with ease and command.
His conniving Queen is given life by Glynna Goff. Goff projects so well and with such quaking force that the rock behind her reverberates and echoes. Her scenes with son Cloten are bottled lightning.
 |
| Photo credit - Christopher Key |
His conniving Queen is given life by Glynna Goff. Goff projects so well and with such quaking force that the rock behind her reverberates and echoes. Her scenes with son Cloten are bottled lightning.
 |
| Photo credit - Christopher Key |
Jesse Collins perfectly plays the petulant prince Cloten.
He’s sullen and single-minded in his pursuit of royal glory and marriage to
Imogen, even though she’s already married and wants nothing to do with him.
Though there were several contenders due to his tremendous acting, Collins’ winning
scene involves him serenading Rensel with an out-of-tune guitar, which he
implores to tune itself.
While Postumus is banished to Rome after marrying his
beloved, he meets Iachimo (Glen Nelson Bristow). Iachimo bets he can seduce
Imogen and cause her to flub her vows. Bristow gives a wonderful performance as
Iachimo, and his scenes with Imogen, Cymbeline, Posthumus and the like are all
equally brilliant.
Iachimo’s right-hand dignitary is Caius Lucious, played by
Sam Schlobaum. He performs with the precise level of bureaucracy and wit.
Carolyn Travis Hatch plays the oft-exasperated disgruntled
ex-courtier, Belaria, with show-stealing humor and theatric prowess. Her
physical comedy is reminiscent of Lucy Ricardo and that isn’t easy. Kidnapping
the king’s other two daughters and raising them as her own, Hatch runs a
veritable off-the-grid existence until Imogen comes a’knockin’. Sisters Guideria and Arviraga are played by
Jessie Spangler and Gilly Kellher, who rock the self-sufficiency wilderness
deal. Spangler’s scene bouncing the beach-ball head of Cloten is fine work.
Tess Nakaishi gives a fantastic performance of court page
Pisania. She plays with a sparkling innocence and good-natured charm, running
back and forth delivering letters and trying to do right by everybody.
 |
| Photo credit - Christopher Key |
The doctor, or the Oz-like
wizard in charge of the whole enterprise, is played by Beth Salmon Greatorex. On a hunch, she switches the death
potion the queen sends out for Imogen for something less potent, and swoops in
at the end to recount all the puzzle pieces. Greatorex brings refinement and dexterity
to the role.
Elizabeth Lundquist, Seanna Faley, and Josiah Miller are
awesome multi-taskers, playing several different parts with ease. Lundquist
delights as Dorothy among other roles; Faley gives a great British Captain when
she’s not Helen. Josiah Miller has the out-the-road British accent down and the
lopey gait of a Monty Python-esque jailer to a T.
Cymbeline runs alongside The
Merchant of Vegas at the Shakespeare Northwest Festival in Rexville. You
can find tickets, directions, and other info on the SNW website. As always, bring the chairs, bug spray, blankets, and tasty morsels.
Pray not miss out, fair reader; it doth enchant.
(The third part to
SNW, in case you’re wondering, is a free traveling show that sets up shop in
parks around Whatcom and Skagit Counties. Neat, eh?)
No comments:
Post a Comment