As far as I’m concerned, The Adventures of Pericles is two hours of terrible playwriting, ending with the touching story of Pericles’ lost daughter, Marina. A younger, cuter, infinitely less interesting version of Odysseus, this Pericles wanders through eight plots, each elaborately introduced by a long-winded narrator named Gower [the name of the earlier poet whose story Shakespeare appropriated and messed with].

Stratford’s current version omits Gower and casts all the women whom Pericles loves and learns from with the same actress, the bewitching Deborah Hay. Evan Buliung’s handsome, heroic Pericles ages startlingly but provides an empathetic, heroic center for the play’s fantastic wanderings through the perils and follies of far-flung civilizations, which include incest, pirates, brothels, burials at sea, drownings, executions, revolutions, resurrections, religious awakenings, and a rediscovered family. The last scenes of a wasted Pericles resurrected by the miracle of his rediscovered daughter and wife are almost worth sitting through the previous ones. Scholars believe that those last scenes are the only sections written entirely by Shakespeare. Or perhaps they’d just prefer to believe that.

Left: Deborah Hay (center) in triple role as one of three daughters, with ‘Pericles’ cast.

The production is appropriately more suggestive than literal in its sets, props, and costumes. But Kevin Fraser’s lighting effects are startling and very involving. A large, typically masterful Stratford cast, many performing multiple and varied roles, animate each of the eight segments commandingly. And that incredibly versatile, brilliant actor Scott Wentworth again demonstrates his enlightening command of difficult drama as the director of this

By Herbert M. Simpson, Contributing Writer

The Adventures of Pericles, Total Rating ***1/2 (out of 4)

Through September 19, 2015

National Festival Company

Tom Patterson Theatre

111 Lakeside Drive, Stratford, Ontario, Canada

Box Office:

1-800-567-1600

(519) 273-1600

stratfordfestival.ca

Directed by: Scott Wentworth

Cast: Marlon Adler, Sean Arbuckle, Carla Bennett, Wayne Best, Alex Black, Evan Buliung, Jacqueline Burtney, David Collins, Keith Dinicol, Victor Ertmanis, Ryan Gifford, Sean Alexander Hauk, Deborah Hay, Jessica B. Hill, Randy Hughson, Robin Hutton, Ethan Lafleur. Claire Lautier, Jamie Mac, Stephen Russell, E. B. Smith, Jane Spidell, Rylan Wilkie, Brigit Wilson, Jonathan Winsby, Antoine Yared

Technical: Set and Costume Designer: Patrick Clark; Lighting Designer: Kevin Fraser; Composer: Paul Shilton;  Sound Designer: Verne Good; Fight Director: John Stead; Original Music Recorded by Paul Shilton.