More than a few times in this blog, I have taken cracks at Cymbeline, a late-Shakespeare work with more structural problems than a house of cards. In truth, I like the play because of (and not in spite of) its idiosyncratic nature. Is it a tragicomedy, a problem play, a romance? Is it a complete mess? Would anyone care about this play if it didn’t have the name Shakespeare attached to it?

American Players Theatre in Wisconsin is currently producing Timon of Athens, a play that, like Cymbeline, isn’t one of the Bard’s most popular. Perhaps the actors, directors and designers who take on these plays like a challenge, or maybe they want to be the first company to “get it right.” A more cynical point of view is that audiences are fatiguing in the face of the repetition of the best-regarded of Shakespeare’s plays (seriously, is there a Shakespeare Festival that isn’t doing A Midsummer Night’s Dream?). I like the lesser-known plays for a different reason: they humanize our Will. While King Lear and Richard III will always be “great literature,” it’s nice to remind ourselves that even The Bard didn’t always knock it out of the ballpark.

Posted Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:30:14 and filed under King Lear, Timon of Athens, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III, Theatre. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.