Pericles at Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival

"Imagine Pericles arrived at Tyre..."
I am the masked person in the right side of the photo.

So both Romeo and Juliet and Pericles are up and running. It was an intense rehearsal process and illness threated -- actually still does threaten -- to down more than one of us in the cast. I was deadly ill just days before opening with laryngitis and fever. 2 weeks later I'm recovered but still not quite 'better.'

Romeo and Juliet is a fine production. PSF hasn't done anything fancy, new, different, nor exciting. It is what it is. We all know the story and for once you can just sit back and watch /listen without needing to engage your brain to 'justify' an R & J in space or underwater or in gibberish or mime or whatever.

Pericles is great spectacle and deserves to be seen. I think the photo above gives you a good idea what I'm talking about.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't challenging to bring both pieces to life, that there were not struggles and setbacks and unexpected changes but isn't that true of most theater?

For the most part we've had very good feedback for both shows and most audiences have been awed by Pericles. We've had decent reviews for Pericles as well.

Still I'm sad that some reviewers have felt obligated to use their limited column space to prove to their readers they are too cool for school. If you don't like a show, fine that's your prerogative. All I ask is that the review speaks to what the reviewer does not like -- director's choices, actors ability to realize said choices, sets, lights, costumes, physical space -- in an intelligent and thoughtful manner such that the average person reading the review might understand what the reviewer expected or believed should have taken place and what actually happened instead.

IMHO if you don't know how (and/or refuse to educate yourself) to comment intelligently on these elements then you have no business calling yourself a theater critic and certainly not even a reviewer. You are at best a gossip whose opinion matters less than the medium in which you write. Making snarky comments about the physical / vocal attributes of an actor is not your job. Using grade school language (here I refer specifically to 1 online review stating the plot of Pericles is 'stupid') should be left exactly there...grade school.


I'm fairly honest with friends and family about the shows I'm in and I don't over promote plays that really are better left forgotten. I'm not so blind as to be unaware of the flaws. Pericles isn't the 'perfect show' nor is it destined to be the 'IT" show of 2008 but it is damn fine spectacle and it would be a shame not to see it based on a handful of poorly composed reviews.

If you live in or near the Philadelphia area I hope you'll have a chance to check it out and judge for yourself.