Let’s just say this right up front: no one is sure how much of “Pericles” was actually written by Shakespeare. The majority of the play is so far from Shakespeare’s style, in fact, that many scholars believe the first two acts were written by someone else entirely — possibly George Wilkins. That Wilkins is remembered as much today for his reputation as a part-time pimp as he is for his career as a part-time dramatist tells you everything you need to know about “Pericles”’ critical reception over the last 416 years.
This Wilkins business could conceivably complicate Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s production of “Pericles,” which runs through Aug. 30 in the Audrey Stanley Grove in Santa Cruz. On the other hand, maybe not, at least if you ask Sean Keilen, head of dramaturgy for SCS and a professor of literature at UC Santa Cruz.
“I mean, I’m interested in authorship questions, but not terribly interested,” said Keilen. “That is to say, what Shakespeare scholars tend to do is when they encounter something that they don’t like in Shakespeare, they say someone else wrote it.”
And, boy, do they not like “Pericles.” So much so that it’s become the butt of many a Shakespeare joke — most notably in Lauren Gunderson’s play “The Book of Will,” where it’s a running gag in which a group of Shakespearean actors groan every time the name of the play is mentioned.
But when Santa Cruz Shakespeare produced “The Book of Will” in 2023, the company’s artistic director Charles Pasternak discovered that those jokes had a completely unexpected effect.
“It just so happened that that the ‘Pericles’ joke stuck with the audience,” said Pasternak, “and it was maybe the first time that any artistic director ever has had audience members coming to them saying, ‘When are you going to do “Pericles”?’”
Ah, but the joke was on all of us, it turns out, as Pasternak was already planning to produce “Pericles” — in fact, when he was asked to put together a hypothetical season while applying for the job, he included it. Turns out he loves “Pericles.” Like, really loves it.
“’Pericles’ is this rip-roaring adventure,” he said. “It’s mythic in scope — six different countries, storms at sea, shipwrecks. You know, Pericles escapes dangers, finds love, loses everything — and that all happens in the first half.”
And what happens in the second half? Well, part of the fun for Pasternak is that you don’t know. Not many people do.
“There’s an element of excitement about introducing so much of our audience to it. It comes up in rehearsal all the time,” he said. “You know, when you’re doing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (another of SCS’ current productions, running through Aug. 31), you can assume that 95% of your audience knows what’s happening, right? ‘Pericles,’ you can’t assume a thing. We have to work hard to make sure a) that they know what the hell is going on, and b) that we get the excitement of these reveals — which will really be reveals to most of this audience. Most of them don’t know how this play ends! And that’s exciting.”
Here are the basics, though: Pericles is a prince who rules the city of Tyre in Phoenicia (now Lebanon). He is tasked with deciphering a riddle from the king of Antioch (in Greece, not East Bay); if he succeeds, he can marry the king’s daughter. If he fails, he dies. Pericles knows the answer — one that will elicit a “yikes” even from a modern audience — but also realizes that this king does not play by the rules, so he flees. Pursued by an assassin, he then sets off on a wild globetrotting adventure that involves pirates, brothels, kings and priestesses.
Adding an extra twist to this production is the casting of SCS audience favorite Paige Lindsey White as Pericles — maybe not the first gender flip of this character, but apparently the only one that Google has ever heard of. So what inspired it? A radical woke agenda? A desire to comment on the structural machinations of gender within early-17th-century British theater?
“The answer is so unsexy,” admitted Pasternak. “The idea came from Paige being a great actor.”
White — who this season also plays the fairy queen Titania in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and is the uncredited voice of the giantess in “Into the Woods,” the third SCS production of the summer) — was thrilled to get the call, and said she’s seen “Pericles” grow on the people involved with putting it together, including head-text-interpreter Keilen.
“It’s been really fun in the room watching even Sean, I feel like, change his mind about the play,” said White. (“I’ve been on a journey with this play,” confirmed Keilen.)
But White feels that the lack of attention that’s been paid to “Pericles” over the years has actually aided her interpretation of the character.
“There’s so little analysis of the play,” she said. “Most of the stuff that’s written about it is just about the authorship, and which parts are Wilkins’ and what’s Shakespeare. It didn’t even make it into the First Folio. So in a way, we’re coming at it fresh ourselves, because it isn’t burdened by other scholarship. You can really take your perspective on the work and see how it speaks to you.”
The production has been getting rave reviews, and Pasternak first and foremost hopes audiences will be entertained. But there’s a bigger picture he wants it to fit into, as well.
“I hope they love it, I hope it blows them away, and I hope it becomes one of their favorite plays. But no matter what, it adds “Pericles” to their lexicon, so that as they continue coming back to us and to other Shakespeare theaters, this lesser-known play is part of the discussion in their head,” he said. “It’s part of the reference material. Shakespeare’s plays speak to each other, and the more of them you know deeply, like anything, expertise breeds love. The more you know about something, the more you can enjoy it.”
Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s production of “Pericles” will be performed Friday, Aug. 22; Saturday, Aug. 23; Thursday, Aug. 28; and Saturday, Aug. 30 at the Grove in Upper DeLaveaga Park, 501 Upper Park Road, Santa Cruz. Tickets are at santacruzshakespeare.org.