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| William Devane, Christopher Walken. (Photos: Friedman-Abeles.) |
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| Jane White, Sam Waterston. |
One of Shakespeare’s
least frequently performed plays, Cymbeline
was given a hearing during the summer of 1971 as a free Central Park
production. It was an eccentric revival with the words “The Tale of” added to
the title by director A.J. Antoon. Broad comedy and exaggerated stage
conventions, including a red rubber ball to represent the severed head of Cloten
(Sam Waterston), were liberally incorporated to suggest a never-never land of
unusual events and persons. Maurice Sendak’s playfully horrific drawings for
children seem to have inspired the costumes of the Roman soldiers, while the
British military was garbed in uniforms resembling Big Bird from “Sesame
Street.”
Antoon’s gimmicky direction distorted the principal role of Imogen (Karen Grassle), who, in Mel Gussow's opinion, was
forced to change “too swiftly from being an impulsive romantic to something of
a clown.” Walter Kerr could not abide this gag-stuffed
interpretation, with its inconsistent style, and Julius Novick found the
experience tedious. John Simon sneered at the way Antoon had bent the play “into
misshapenness when not breaking it into smithereens.”
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| Sam Waterston, Karen Grassle. |
A fairly positive
notice stemmed from Jack Kroll, for whom the revival brought the required “brains
and guts and vitality and passion” to the job, even in the face of feeble
acting. For all that, the cast was noteworthy, with, to name some of the most recognizable,
Tom Aldredge as Cymbeline, Jane White as the Queen, Christopher Walken as
Posthumus, Sam Tsoutsouvas as Guiderius, William Devane as Iachimo, and Joseph
Ragno as Cornelius.
Next up: The Taming of the Shrew
