Cymbeline
Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum is always a breathtaking venue to take in a show, but the hillside theater, like Shakespeare’s own Globe Theatre, seems made-to-order for the bard’s “Cymbeline.” Under blue skies and absolutely idyllic weather, the cast brought their opening day energy and delivered high-spirited performances with a real sense of play. The surrounding forests of the Botanicum provide the requisite rural backdrop of early England with soldiers cavorting among the hills, birds whistling in and through the cast, and gentle breezes wafting life into the period costumes.
“Cymbeline” is one of Shakespeare’s more difficult plays to categorize, but under Ellen Geer’s direction, the Botanicum crew has struck the right chord, playing it funny and bawdy, but never forgetting the love and familial intimacy crucial to the story. Aaron Hendry, a veteran of this stage, delivers another fantastic performance as Iachimo, the soldier who sets off the action by betting that he can seduce Posthumus’ wife.
Mike Peebler’s Posthumus is earnest and devoted, a perfect match for his lovely and charmingly devoted wife Imogen, strongly played by Willow Geer; and Susan Angelo is ambitious and menacing as the Queen, but Jeff Wiesen becomes annoying as the over affected and unctuous Cloten, and Thad Geer’s Cymbeline seems dropped straight out of Philly. Gerald Rivers is excellent as Posthumus’ sensitive and meditative servant.
It is Hendry, however, who makes the play throb, mischievously moving things along to a wild battle scene (a seemingly required measure for this large, inviting space), and an Agatha Christie-like denouement, where one expects a camera panning wildly as one character after another is recognized to reveal a piece of the mystery. “Cymbeline” is one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, but there can be no better place than the you-are-there ambience of the Botanicum to learn of it. “Cymbeline” is performed every Sunday at 3:30 pm through September 27th.