Pericles - National

I watched Shakespeare's Pericles yesterday at the National. Actually I watched Yukio Ninagawa's Pericles. To be even more precise, I watched Pericles, translated into Japanese, and to be exact, I watched Pericles, in Japanese, whilst reading English sur-titles. The mere fact that I was in a theatre is normally astounding enough.

I could attempt to write a proper review, and not do it any justice, so why bother? Here's some I found on the National Theatre website and some of my thoughts instead.

I've never read Pericles. The play is one of Shakespeare's later works, and is rarely performed. The story is a blend of King Lear and a Winter's Tale, but with less tragedy and more humour. Fearing I wouldn't understand what was happening I quickly read a plot synopsis before the start. I needn't have bothered as it was reasonable easy to follow (my friend who hadn't read a synopsis followed it with relative ease). One annoying thing is the size and postions of the sur-titles. Unlike a subtitled film, the dialogue were to the far left and right of stage, and it meant if you were studiously reading the words, you'd miss the acting, and if you were engrossed with the acting, you missed the words. A curious visual juggling act is required.

Despite this, I really did enjoy it. It reminded me of other Japanese versions of Shakespeare, namely the Kurosawa's Ran, with medieval chivalry equating perfectly with Samurai code of honour. The set's were amazing, and Ninagawa also blended in elements of Kabuki and Noh theatre, featuring puppets and masks. The acting was uniformly superb.

If you only see one sur-titled, Japanese translation of a little performed Shakespearian play this year, I'd recommend this one.