See it if you enjoy PigPen's theater music, heavily featured in the show.
Don't see it if you want a magical theater experience. This play is amazing but this production is... charmless. Nunn doesn't trust the material.
See it if you adore everything Shakespeare ever wrote -- even the weaker stuff. This is a good production of a weak play.
Don't see it if you like your Shakespeare complex and absorbing.
See it if You want to see what a great director can do with mediocre Shakespeare and an uneven cast. It may be your only chance to see this play.
Don't see it if Some inventive staging does not compensate for a silly complicated plot.
See it if Like Nunn have not experienced the show and need to check it off your Shakespeare box
Don't see it if its a tough script and if you know that probably not a necc trip
See it if Mixed bag , disappointing direction,excellent acting by Camargo and R.N. Thompson particularly---fine music .imaginative set. Worth seeing .
Don't see it if you wish to see a taut production with uniformly fine acting.
See it if If you want a well-executed production of Pericles. It's certainly beautiful and focused. The flaws are really within the play itself.
Don't see it if You don't like Shakespeare or are willing to bear with a show. It IS slow, but a good production of Pericles can be a bit tricky to find.
See it if Shakespeare's work interests you.The worst play by him (if he wrote it) I have ever encountered. Cast is game and they make the most of it.
Don't see it if You know how bad the play is, or if you have an aversion to cornball Elizabethan plot devices.
See it if You're a fan of Pericles and want to see it live. Also the costumes are beautiful.
Don't see it if You don't like slow pacing. Also if you don't like the play itself, because Pericles is one of Shajespeares slower and longer plays.
"The biggest problem with this production is the casting is so uneven. Mr. Camargo is a bore, we do not care about him. He looks nice, but is so bland that it is hard to stay with him for the required 2 hours and 45 minutes...As much as the music broke up the long speeches, it doesn’t a cohesive piece make...The visuals were glorious including the costumes by Constance Hoffman, and seeing this rarely produced piece was satisfying."
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"Working with an American cast, [director] Nunn almost succeeds in making this combination shaggy-dog story and picaresque romance fun...Shaun Davey’s delightful music and Stephen Strawbridge’s poetic lighting almost overcome the Bard’s seemingly endless melodrama, but there’s too much silly storytelling and not enough dramatic meat on this 'Pericles’' bones."
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"Having seen this 'Pericles,' all I can do is take some comfort in the fact that even geniuses like Shakespeare and near-ones like Nunn can turn out a flop...Trying to do his part to keep the audience's attention, Nunn adds music and spectacle and extravagant costumes. None of it worked for me but there were occasional murmurs of delight from other audience members...I suspect that only other completists will enjoy seeing what he's done with this one."
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"[Director Nunn] certainly makes no case here for the show's potential and indeed this production in particular gets worse as it goes along....Can one mess up a bad play? Nunn comes awfully close...It's as if Nunn were adapting 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' but treating it like 'Macbeth.' You don't necessarily want to make fun of the whole affair , but you certainly don't want to treat it as the stately epic Nunn clearly envisioned."
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"The production at Theatre for a New Audience is so engaging and visually sumptuous that one can only wonder it’s not a staple of the canon...For the most part, the actors handle the language with skill...This rarely staged romance is a feast for the eyes and the ears, a gem from a master Shakespearean director that you won’t want to miss."
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"There is enough depth to lower an anchor and contemplate the sudden twists and turns of our own fragile fate...Trevor Nunn has a cast with talent in spades. Under the surface of this vibrant carousel is evidence of a highly skilled technique master. He has wrought the perfect amount of meaning and melancholia out of the text to buffet the showy antics of the piece. There are so many layers at play at any given moment that the production is rich with the complexity of human fallout."
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"Camargo breathes new and vigorous life into a timeless character...Pericles’ every adventure, whether as lovelorn prince or ruined old man, captivates. There’s something for everyone in Nunn’s production…Despite the seeming inevitability of the happy ending, you’ll find yourself tearing up – or at least suppressing a grin – as the cast takes their bow. 'Pericles' is a colorful, visually rich and heartwarming adventure of a play that you won’t want to miss."
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"Raucous, delicious, and ultimately very moving...Compelling characterizations by all the principal players and eye-poppingly gorgeous design make everything not only clear but kind of addictive...The play takes on the feeling of an adventure series, each episode ending as a cliffhanger. And it’s a stunningly realized adventure....It’s impossible for me to imagine any playgoer not taking delight in this utterly charming and 100% fun production."
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