Shakespeare's play is rewritten by Carl Grose and adapted by Kneehigh's Emma Rice, on 'loss, confusion, hate, and war'. It has humour and hoodies, music and song, mistaken identities, the lost and found, divided and reconciled, all mixed up with a classy score, noise, smoke, flashlights and quirky props.
It's loud, strange, funny and dramatic. Mike Shepherd plays King Cymbeline and Emma Rice his second Queen. Once his nurse she has become his drug supplier while he is depressed and dependent following the loss of his sons who were stolen away in infancy. His daughter Imogen, played by Hayley Carmichael, is later lost to him by marrying against his wishes. Her husband Posthumus, played by Carl Grose, sails to Italy and encounters a pimp, instead of Shakespeare's Iachimo, and prostitutes instead of his army. Two of these are played by male actors, including Mike Shepherd, and are grotesquely funny.
Kneehigh always have fun with staging and props. This play employs a silver steel cage with an upper platform, on which live music is played, including a few blues numbers sung by Emma Rice as the bad Queen and the whole score is moody, intense and impressive. There is a bright red rooster aloft which crows, and a fat owl which hoots when Imogen goes to bed. A red remote car is the messenger, operated by one of the cast in a hooded parka. The play ranges from dramatic to daft, there is continuous movement and interest and much to wonder at. Why, for instance, does Emma Rice take off her dress and walk around in a champagne-coloured satin corset with suspenders? Kneehigh plays are quite bonkers, often dark, drawing as they say they do, on the subconscious, which defies conscious reason. The play is a succession of images and scenes, which are as interesting as they are frequently baffling, as are dreams. Very popular with the audience.
It's loud, strange, funny and dramatic. Mike Shepherd plays King Cymbeline and Emma Rice his second Queen. Once his nurse she has become his drug supplier while he is depressed and dependent following the loss of his sons who were stolen away in infancy. His daughter Imogen, played by Hayley Carmichael, is later lost to him by marrying against his wishes. Her husband Posthumus, played by Carl Grose, sails to Italy and encounters a pimp, instead of Shakespeare's Iachimo, and prostitutes instead of his army. Two of these are played by male actors, including Mike Shepherd, and are grotesquely funny.
Kneehigh always have fun with staging and props. This play employs a silver steel cage with an upper platform, on which live music is played, including a few blues numbers sung by Emma Rice as the bad Queen and the whole score is moody, intense and impressive. There is a bright red rooster aloft which crows, and a fat owl which hoots when Imogen goes to bed. A red remote car is the messenger, operated by one of the cast in a hooded parka. The play ranges from dramatic to daft, there is continuous movement and interest and much to wonder at. Why, for instance, does Emma Rice take off her dress and walk around in a champagne-coloured satin corset with suspenders? Kneehigh plays are quite bonkers, often dark, drawing as they say they do, on the subconscious, which defies conscious reason. The play is a succession of images and scenes, which are as interesting as they are frequently baffling, as are dreams. Very popular with the audience.
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