Fiasco Theatre's Pericles Off-Broadway Reviews

Midway through, “Pericles” finds its sea legs, mostly because the action shifts to Pericles’s daughter, Marina, played by the luminous Emily Young. This also signals the play’s move away from struggle and loss and toward redemption and joy, more natural keys for Fiasco, which has always excelled at comedy. The brothel scenes, in which a chaste Marina reforms would-be customers, are sprightly. And the ending, among Shakespeare’s best, is suitably moving. But the chief delight here, as in any Fiasco show, is watching the actors work with such fluency and in such communion, supporting and enjoying one another’s work. That’s not quite a miracle, but it’s reason enough to set sail.

Under the musically graceful direction of Ben Steinfeld — one of the company’s three co–artistic directors as well as the composer of the show’s songs — Fiasco gives Pericles, Shakespeare’s mixed-bag picaresque of a late romance, a clear and pleasant shape.

Fear no more: Fiasco’s Pericles is a revelation, a revivification of New York theater’s most essential ensemble and a redemption for a play seldom produced and even less seldom praised. Things, though, do start out somewhat unconvincingly. Pericles is thought to be a collaboration between Shakespeare and George Wilkins, an abusive innkeeper whom scholars think probably was running a brothel, and it’s in the rather un-Shakespearean first act (typically attributed to Wilkins) that Fiasco unsurprisingly finds the greatest challenge.

Pericles courses along, always accessible, but it seldom leaps off the stage into something that enchants. An angry sea that sweeps up Pericles arrives on stage as an enormous rippling bolt of blue fabric. It’s an effective, but familiar, trick. In the end, there are laughs, bursts of song, and a sweet family reunion. While it takes a bit of divine summoning for things to work out for Pericles, fine-tuned ensemble acting gets the job done for Fiasco.

Reviewer’s recollection: I’ve only seen two previous Pericles productions, the first out of curiosity, the second out of duty. Subsequently, I intended to forego future opportunities. I was definitely reluctant to attend this one, until I reminded myself that the Fiasco bunch were likely to offer something appealingly off-kilter. Now I’d like to think that if I ever see another Pericles, it’s a revival of this nifty Fiasco rigmarole.