{"id":16163,"date":"2018-07-20T10:01:42","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T17:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16163"},"modified":"2018-07-23T09:58:33","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T16:58:33","slug":"stripped-down-pericles-impresses-at-shakespeare-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/07\/20\/stripped-down-pericles-impresses-at-shakespeare-fest\/","title":{"rendered":"Stripped-down Pericles<\/em> impresses at Shakespeare fest"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the scorching heat of the past week, I was amused to see blankets being handed out at the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival\u2019s outdoor performance of Pericles <\/em>last night. After all, my apartment has fans blowing hot air around 24\/7\u2014how cold could a field at Camosun\u2019s Lansdowne campus get at 8 at night? The answer: really freaking cold.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the strong performances make it worth braving the chilly temperatures. Jack Hayes is the perfect blend of over-the-top-playing-to-the-back-of-the-crowd and subtle intimacy as tortured King Pericles and Lara Hamburg is breathtaking and emotive as his estranged daughter, Marina.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jack Hayes as Pericles, Nicole Bartosinski as Thaisa, and Lara Hamburg as Marina in Pericles<\/em> (photo by Lara Eichhorn).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the bewilderment that can accompany an audience member when watching Shakespeare (that feeling like you\u2019re watching an opera without subtitles) both Hayes and Hamburg are able to convey their characters\u2019 development (even if I didn\u2019t understand every word they\u2019re saying).<\/p>\n

The plot of Pericles is convoluted, to say the least (it is Shakespeare, after all) but Cam Culham does his best as narrator Gower to navigate us through the vast timeframe and locations of the story.<\/p>\n

With minimal sets, director Christopher Weddell manages to use little more than fabric and a few props to take us across the sea and back with Pericles. Weddell also chooses to blend a mixture of modern-day clothing and head-to-toe period costumes. This decision, at times, left me feeling like I was watching a dress rehearsal. While I appreciate the flair and uniqueness of Weddell\u2019s vision, with so many locations and decades over the course of the show, I have to wonder if it might not have been less confusing to have more cohesion with the costumes.<\/p>\n

And, while I understand the vast challenges of micing actors outdoors, there were times (particularly toward the end of the show as their voices tired) when it became challenging to hear them. That being said, I was thoroughly impressed with how such a minimalist performance was able to convey a full-spectrum experience for the audience. This stripped-down Shakespeare proves that the brilliance of the work is the writing\u2026 even if you don\u2019t understand all of it.<\/p>\n

Greater Victoria\u00a0Shakespeare Festival
\nVarious days and times,\u00a0until Saturday, August 4
\nVarious prices,\u00a0Camosun College Lansdowne campus and Saxe Point Park
\nvicshakespeare.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the scorching heat of the past week, I was amused to see blankets being handed out at the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival\u2019s outdoor performance of Pericles last night. After all, my apartment has fans blowing hot air around 24\/7\u2014how cold could a field at Camosun\u2019s Lansdowne campus get at 8 at night? The answer: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}