Pretty....Scary
By MICHAEL SMITH World Entertainment Writer 12/3/00
Joseph Gomez and Lauren Brown, with Sara Cruncleton lurking in the shadows. KELLY KERR / Tulsa World
One, a holiday classic with a ghost nobody fears. The other, a new take on Shakespeare.
With Dickens, you know what you're getting. But with 'Cymbeline?' Said Midwestern's John Cruncleton: 'The text does call for a sort of circus-like-atmosphere, and we can provide that.'
A fairy tale with a wicked stepmother. A girl in drag. Drunken clowns. Decapitation. Life-sized puppets.
"Cymbeline," a black comedy/historical romance depicting a British King's scheming royal court, sounds like another day at the office for Midwestern Theater Troupe, Tulsa's rough-housing clown princes of adventure and dramatic risk-taking.
But this is Shakespeare. After six years of purely original works, is this group heading cautiously toward more mainstream fare?
"Well, OK, no one's going to get spit on this time around," said John Cruncleton, a Midwestern founder and director of this production, as he was for July's "Romolo the Great," a which-way-is-up fever dream featuring carnival folk who proved they knew how to hock up a loogie.
"It's going to be a respectable performance, and it's going to be respectful of Shakespeare. But the text does call for sort of a circus-like atmosphere, and we can provide that. It's going to be fun. I'm intrigued by taking this fantasy to an extreme, in design and everything else. I think we're going to make some new muscle."
An impressively choreographed battle scene, live duel and surprise costuming choices will certainly help to flex Midwestern's physical brand of theater in this five-act saga telling the story of a British ruler hundreds of years ago.
To paraphrase another Shakespeare work, all of Cymbeline's world truly is a stage, and seemingly every character is playing toward some devious end that will bring them more power. Things are not what they seem here, and appearances should be assumed to be deceiving.
Among the most tricky of the 20-plus performances is that of the Queen, the wicked stepmother to Cymbeline's daughter, Imogen. The Queen dotes on her mate, but she does not love Cymbeline. She is instead angling for her son, Cloten, to marry Imogen in case the throne falls to the young girl -- next in line after the King's two sons were kidnapped years ago while still small children.
But the Queen's plan seems to become a moot point, as Imogen has secretly wed Posthumus, who is a gentleman and a scholar, but a commoner. The two had been lifelong friends and they have loved one another for years, but the elopement so enrages Cymbeline that he banishes Posthumus from Britain.
For some time, the pair secretly communicates, but even this comes to an end when Posthumus is taken in by an Italian nobleman who -- willing to do anything to best Posthumus in a bet -- produces false evidence that he was successful in seducing Imogen.
The play has more than 20 characters, and the web of deceit eventually grows huge, ensuring a heavy toll on these players, with many surprises, excesses and deaths along the path -- pretty much what one would expect of a Shakespeare work.
"This play is so artificial in so many ways. For example, the wicked queen doesn't even have a name," Cruncleton said. "Throughout the play, Shakespeare makes allusions to the artificial nature of this environment, always unveiling his surprises by having the characters speak to the audience in little asides.
"Since the audience is in on all of the secrets before all of the characters, they're often not watching to find out what will happen, but watching to see the character reactions. The plotlines are all weaved together so gracefully, and in such an amusing way, that I think the audience will derive pleasure from watching the strings connect for the players."
An intriguing element Cruncleton adds on to this production is the Winterland Trio, three musicians (James Wilson, Tanya Maggi and Sean Whitworth) who will play incidental music throughout the show and, at times, also become characters in the play. The original music is composed by Wilson.
"This play can be a multimedia delight, and you could just go nuts in the way that you stage it," Cruncleton said. "We're having a good time, and the trio is wonderful. Personally, I'd buy a ticket just to see them."
Among the many performers in the production include Robert Frayser, Sara Cruncleton, Lauren Brown, Dale Sams, George Nelson, Heather Smith and Derek Adams.
Midwestern Theater Troupe's production of Shakespeare's "Cymbeline"
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 7 p.m. Dec. 10, 17; 8 p.m. Dec. 14-16 2000
Where: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
Tickets: $8, discount for students, reservations available by calling 583-8487 [As of February 2007, 633-8666]
Michael Smith, World entertainment writer, can be reached at 581-8474 or via e-mail at michael.smith@tulsaworld.com.