Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Free Shout-Out Shakespeare Series:

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

by William Shakespeare
directed by Taylor St. John
80-minute running time

September 11-21, 2019

generously sponsored by Evans|Petree, P.C. and The First Tennessee Foundation through ArtsFirst
amplified sound and stage lighting provided by Arts Memphis and The Plough Foundation

“Bonum quo antiquius eo melius”

The older a good thing is, the better it is

– Gower, Pericles

Playing in ten non-traditional indoor/outdoor spaces throughout Shelby County!

Four fearless refugees come ashore and with what little they own, they play Shakespeare’s late romance with the spirit of a time-traveling fairy tale.  Imbued with music, miracles, and the constant presence of the sea, this little-seen work follows Pericles, the Prince of Tyre, as he is forced to flee his own kingdom and wander the world.  Get ready for shipwrecks, pirates, and Roman Goddesses as the story-telling weaves a comic yet poignant story about the meaning of hope, love, and family.

Performances:

Lester Community Center
(Preview)
September 11 at 6:00 pm

Collierville Town Square
September 12 at 6:00 pm (outdoors, bring a chair)

Overton Square’s Chimes Square Amphitheatre
September 13 at 6:00 pm (outdoors, bring a chair)

Germantown Library . EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO POWER OUTAGE 
September 14 at 1:00 pm

Benjamin Hooks Public Library
September 17 at 6:00 pm

Cordova YMCA
September 18 at 6:00 pm

International Harvester Managerial Park, Lakeland
September 19 at 6:00 pm (outdoors, bring a chair)

Overton Square’s Chimes Square Amphitheatre
September 20 at 6:00 pm (outdoors, bring a chair)

Wiseacre Brewery
September 21 at 1:00 pm (outdoors)

Nature Park at the Memphis Visitor’s Center, on the river
September 21 at 6:00 pm (outdoors)

The Company

Taylor St. John directs this 80-minute production with an acting quartet of JD Jenkins (Pericles/Boult/Chorus/pirate), Brianna Roche (Thaisa/Dionyza/Bawd/Diana) and TSC Artist Fellows Emily McCormick (Marina/Thaliard) and Tyler J. Vernon (Antiochus/Helicanus/Cleon/Cerimon).

TSC’s Outreach Manager Carmen-maria Mandley is the Shout-Out Series line producer.  TSC veteran Kristen Fisher is the production stage manager.

The design team includes Jeremy Fisher (TSC’s resident lighting designer) and Lindsay Taylor creating the scenic/props design, Alex Perel-Sams (TSC’s costume shop manager) designing costumes, and resident TSC artist-manager Merit Koch composing the original music.

“When we say that Shakespeare is for everyone, we mean it,” says TSC Founder and Producing Artistic Director Dan McCleary.  “Our hope with this Series is that one day soon most Memphians will feel an ownership of both the playwright and his stories – all of them.  And to do that, we need to perform where all Memphians live, work, and play. Even if someone sees and hears Shakespeare near them for five minutes every year, they may come to know that Shakespeare is already part of their DNA and that TSC is their Shakespeare company.  I am deeply grateful to Evans|Petree P.C., First Tennessee Foundation, ArtsMemphis, and the Plough Foundation for helping us turn this notion of community service into a fully-produced and fun reality.”

The Story

In the play, Prince Pericles leaves home to escape death only to win a jousting contest and marry a princess.  Once he can return home, his family sails with him, but a storm separates them, so Pericles returns alone.  Years later, Pericles finds his daughter and reunites with the wife he had thought was dead.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre does not appear in the First Folio collection of William Shakespeare’s plays in 1623. This was likely due to the question of authorship.  Forty years later, as today, the play was regarded as a collaboration — Shakespeare’s clear hand being represented in acts three, four, and five.  The play’s theme also hews closely to Shakespeare’s late romances where the daughter redeems the father, resembling strongly his Winter’s Tale but also the finale of The Comedy of Errors.

The story is ancient, and of an ancient time and place.  The original central character was Apollonius of Tyre, originating in the fifth century.  The name got changed via multiple narratives, finally coming to Shakespeare as Pyrocles, the name used by Philip Sidney in his popular romance Arcadia in 1590.  The Pericles of Shakespeare’s play, then, is not to be confused with the great Athenian statesman of the same name.

Tyre, too, has ancient and fabled roots.  Likely founded in 2750 B.C.E, it is now a city in Lebanon in the eastern Mediterranean.  It was once an island and fortress until Alexander the Great’s siege and subsequent construction of a ruins causeway between the mainland and island that remains today. Tyre is the legendary birthplace of Europa and Dido.

Within this narrative and land of age and legend, Shakespeare focuses on the extreme trials of a family reunited through young Marina’s courage and the world of the supernatural.

“Pericles is a sort of story-theatre piece in which much of the action is told and then imaginatively created by the actors,” says director Taylor St. John.  “People being displaced from or escaping their homelands is an ancient act, particularly in the Mediterranean, and so we frame our production by setting it in a refugee camp where the storytellers use the flotsam of their world and the few precious garments and relics from their homelands to bring the story to life.

“Among the questions that the play asks us is: How do we respond to those who are alien to us? Do we offer relief to people facing suffering from places far away, or do we turn our backs and close our eyes? What would we do to reunite our families, and do we extend aid to others seeking the same?”