Cymbeline

I can't say I was a huge fan of this production. There were elements that I really did like but others I found to be confusing and distracting from the play itself. It got off to a weird start for me with the interpretation of the narrator and the little girl. Perhaps if I had gone into the play not knowing what it was about I would have liked it; to me it was over the top, we know this play is like a fairytale already! I also thought it was confusing because it seemed like the two slipped in and out of the action. The dialogue in the beginning made it seem as though they were involved with Cymbeline's court but clearly from the play they were not in the story. The narration got more confusing in my opinion with the addition of the dumbshow to foreshadow the events, like the girl with the blood on her dress. I felt it to be unnecessary and distracting.

However, since they did have the narrator figure I really liked how they used her in other ways. Her ability to transition into other characters and become directly involved with the story was very interesting. The fairy tale elements that really made sense to me were the setting and costuming. The water tanks that snaked across the stage created a beautiful but very modern aesthetic. It was the modern blending with the old that made the play visually stunning and otherworldly to me. It made the play look timeless and gave it a feeling of fantasy. The costumes looked slightly medieval but all with a twist; the Queen looked like she could have been from science ficiton film. I think if the play had stuck to communicating the fantasy and fairy tale elements in visual ways rather than changing it like they did, the play would have just spoken for itself and we would still get the impression of a fairy tale.