RSC Pericles review - Shakespeare meets Arabian Nights in enchanting production

Shakespeare has blessed us with countless acts of love; how glorious then to see a production that returns the favour.

Performances of Pericles are rare. This is the RSC’s first in 18 years, and only the sixth in its history. It is easy to see why, for it is flawed in ways that ought really to sink it. The play is almost certainly a collaboration between Shakespeare and a playwright named George Wilkins; being second-best to the former is obviously no disgrace, but the inferiority of the latter is blatant, sometimes painfully so. It is also unsatisfying as drama: things have a tendency just to happen, arbitrarily and conveniently, as if it is being made up as it goes along. Incident follows incident follows incident, with little sense of form or theme. It breaks the rules, but not in a good way.

So huge credit must go to Tamara Harvey, who directs the play and is the joint artistic director the RSC, for taking this sow’s ear and making from it the most beautiful silk purse. She and her team have lavished it with love, and the play has repaid them. A neglected and somewhat shabby old thing glows here like a rare gem.

Pericles is Prince of Tyre, and the world seems out to get him. To begin with, he is presented with a riddle: if solves it, he will die. So he flees, and is pursued by an assassin. Then Pericles is shipwrecked. Then he wins a jousting tournament and gets married; things are looking up. Then, while sailing on another ship, there is a violent storm, and his wife apparently dies while giving birth. Then Pericles loses contact with his daughter. Some 14 years later, she is about to be murdered by a rather hesitant man, but then she is abducted by a gang of pirates and sold to a brothel. Out of all this is somehow contrived a happy ending involving a dream of the goddess Diana, and full marks to everyone involved with this production for somehow making it all not just plausible but genuinely moving.

Alfred Enoch plays Pericles with wide eyes, clear voice and the sublime calm of a gentle warrior. The world revolves around him, and could ask for no firmer axis. Also essential to holding everything together is Rachelle Diedericks, who plays Pericles’s daughter Marina and assumes the role of narrator with charm and warmth. The cast as a whole are fluid and sure-footed, but Christian Patterson deserves a mention for raising many welcome laughs.

The production looks gorgeous: the warm light, the exotic palette and the ever-present haze make it appear like an enchanted memory. It takes great skill to make so convoluted a story this clear: the set is dominated by ropes, reflecting nautical adventures, and these are used inventively. So are the costumes, which indicate changes of setting. The overall effect is that of a Shakespeare play told in the style of the Arabian Nights. It is magical.

Problems arise however during the scenes in the brothel, when the tone grows uncertain. It is neither ribald enough to be funny nor sharp enough to be shocking, and the resulting unease threatens to break the spell. But part of the blame must fall on the play itself for its inconsistencies.

In general, though, this Pericles is wondrous. Brave are those who take it on; bravo to these who have. Their love is lavishly rewarded.

Until September 21. Visit rsc.org.uk or call 01789 331111 to book.