Pericles: that scene

So. Pericles. Act One, Scene Two. Its weird construction has convinced bardolators–who feel ol’ Bill can’t write crap–that this is part of the play for which Wilkins must get the credit, or in this case blame.

And why, you ask. Well, let’s take a look at the scene…

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Happy (pre-)Valentine’s Day–Pericles: bawdy or just ‘unsavory’?

Happy (pre-) Valentine’s Day! and in that spirit…

[EXPLICIT CONTENT, ADULT LANGUAGE AND SOPHOMORIC SEX HUMOR AHEAD… SKIP IF EASILY OFFENDED.]

So. Pericles and the bawdy. Given that Act Four takes place mostly in a brothel, you know it’s going to bring the bawdy. But what does our Bard of the Bawdy, Eric Partridge say in his Shakespeare’s Bawdy?

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Pericles: Marina

On multiple occasions, I’ve complained about the lack for goal/motive/agency for our title character in Pericles. But maybe he’s not the main character or protagonist.

In the second half of the play…

Hear me out.

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Pericles: Back to the Ephesus!

In Pericles, when Thaisa “dies” (or when they think she’s dead, but she’s only “mostly dead”), they put her body in a chest and dump it overboard. It washes up on the shore of Ephesus.

And if that place sounds oddly familiar, it should. We (and by “we” I mean this project) have visited there before…

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The Geography of Pericles [INFOGRAPHIC]

Last week, when I was discussing the time and location jumps found in Pericles, I admitted that I would probably need to create a map for this play.

Well, guess what I did when I couldn’t sleep the other night…

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Dumb. Showy. Meta.

Two days ago, I asked the question ‘who is the protagonist of Pericles?’ We know he’s the main character, the one for whom we hold a rooting interest. But I questioned whether or not he advanced the plot (or if the plot advanced him). And then, of course, there’s the question of his goal. What is Pericles’ purpose?

Yesterday was our first Sunday matinee for Much Ado, and the Super Bowl (and my god, I hate the Patriots)…so I never got a posting up.

Today, I turn my attention to the purpose of something else altogether: the dumb-shows in Pericles.

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Pericles, protagonist?

Here’s a question for you: who’s the main character of Pericles? Easy. Pericles. And that’s true. He pretty much dominates the play. According to PlayShakespeare, he is in the Top Twenty of characters in terms of the most speeches in a play; and he’s in the Top Fifteen in terms of the percentage of the play’s speeches he speaks (with 27%; for reference and comparison, Timon was in the Top Ten in total, and number one is percentage, with 35%). So, yeah: Pericles, main character.

But is he the protagonist?

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Let’s do the Time (and Space) Warp(s) again…

Back when we were immersed in Antony and Cleopatra, I discussed the time and space jumps we get in that play. And Pericles presents the same challenges only more so.

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Video Review: Pericles, BBC, 1984

In 1984, as part of the seventh and final season of its Collected Works series, the BBC broadcast its version of Pericles, directed by David Jones, who had done The Merry Wives of Windsor in Season Five (that phrasing would have been better if this was the “bawdy” post). This play, like Timon of Athens, last time around, was one of the handful the BBC had never adapted for the screen.

BBC Collected Works: Pericles
BBC Collected Works: Pericles

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