Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Bell's overall approach is to emphasize the work's narrative, ensemble-style storytelling. With designer Scott Davis offering a fluid visual landscape keyed (as are Nan Cibula-Jenkins' costumes) on a sensualized Middle East, the show sometimes recalls Mary Zimmerman's "The Arabian Nights" or some adaptation from a great, ancient narrative text. "Pericles" certainly lends itself to that approach, though the downside of all this self-conscious storytelling, which one feels here throughout, is that the whole affair takes on a Zen-like quality, as beautiful people populate a landscape and tell us a preordained lamplight story."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Director David H. Bell brings a Shakespearean depth to every musical he stages. He also unfailingly brings genuine musical energy to every Shakespeare play he helms. The latest example of this crossover can be found on the stage of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where “Pericles,” one of the Bard’s less frequently produced “romances” (“episodic adventure story” might be a more accurate descriptor), is now receiving an elaborate production that might have benefited from some judicious trimming."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Best known for musicals, director David H. Bell tries all kinds of tactics to make something silky of his sow's ear. Now it's a comedy with metatheatrical winks. Now it's a fantasia a la Mary Zimmerman. Now . . . dancing! Nothing works. And Bell is further hobbled by his poorly cast leading man, Ben Carlson, whose Pericles resembles an accountant in a jerkin. At least we've got Nan Cibula-Jenkins's sumptuous costumes and Scott Davis's cunning sets to look at."
Gapers Block - Recommended
"...The staging (by Scott Davis) and costuming (by Nan Cibula-Jenkins) are lush in a color palette of blues and aquas with flowing multicolored robes for the royal characters. The scenic design and handling of ships, storms and celebrations is accomplished without overdoing the drama. The visual design by Aaron Rhyne projects images of stormy seas upon a silvery backdrop. Original music by Henry Marsh is magically directed by Ethan Deppe with sound design by James Savage. The music and sound design are especially strong in the celebration scene, highlighted by excellent percussion work by Jeff Feder and Dan Toot on cajon and bongos."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...But Henry Marsh’s original score is thoroughly lovely—a choral number in Pentapolis, where Pericles meets his wife, Thaisa, in which the entire cast joins in intricate harmony (Ethan Deppe is the music director) left my mouth agape. The entire Pentapolis sequence, in fact, which also includes a mass battle with staffs (fight choreography by Wesley Truman Daniel and Max Fabian) and a joyous group dance number (presumably choreographed by Bell—there’s no credit), is the show’s highlight—along with Ben Carlson’s precise, impressively rangy and often unexpectedly comic work in the title role."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...There is so much going in the production at Courtyard Theater that the effect is nearly overwhelming. Bell’s superb direction manages to keep everything in balance so that the impressive staging remains subservient to the playwright’s stunningly realized vision. It is an extraordinary and magical experience that helps us to appreciate Shakespeare anew."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Rather than the contained story we are used to, this is the kind of play that, like in Sanskrit dramatic theory, samples from each one of our emotional tastes to create an elaborate meal. It is commonly believed the first half was written by a different playwright, perhaps accounting for the strangeness of starting off a story about redemption and hope with such viciously Jacobean situations. I doubt Marina could have talked her way out of Antioch or famine. And yet, Bell made the heightened cruelty of his world match the miraculous joy. Carlson waits until the final scene to plunge all-in to loud, overwhelming feelings, and when he does, they feel deserved. See this play, and you’ll remember why Shakespeare is so beloved, and still think years from now it was one of your best nights in the theatre."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...A special round of applause to the ensemble work in this production. The cast really does represent hundreds of characters,from all these different cities, and they move through their paces with invisible precision which keeps the action rolling along and brings the story into high relief: because this is an big complicated tale, not familiar to us, we need all elements functioning together to support the story. This cast works together seamlessly."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The works of William Shakespeare have been read and produced on stages for centuries. Most of us have our favorites and there are of course many plays that are seldom (if ever) produced. Such is the current production on the stage at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, “Pericles”. I bet most of you have never even heard about this fantastical tale. Our hero, Pericles, The Prince of Tyre ( played to perfection by Ben Carlson, making a return visit to CST, where he has given us “Hamlet” and “Macbeth” performances that will be recalled for years to come) who flees his land for fear of his life. He sets sail searching for safety and along the way he confronts villains, pirates, goddesses and kings."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This adventure saga is told in a production that opens with Once Upon a Time and ends with Happily Ever After. It’s a true mythic tale with a stalwart adventurer at its helm. Audiences, particularly younger theatergoers, will love all the action and spectacle, while older audiences will revel in the play’s romance and poetry. This is a magnificent production of one of Shakespeare’s lesser-produced plays, presented with pageantry and finesse by a skilled director and his multitalented company of actors and theatre artists. A series of stories linked together by a winning hero, this shining saga has something for everyone."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"...The cast consists of several familiar local faces along with Canadian guest star Ben Carlson, who has done much good work in earlier CST Shakespearean plays. Carlson is perhaps a little old for the role, but he brings his usual strong stage presence to his character and his nimble way with Shakespeare's verse. Pericles is off stage for long periods, during which time the narrative is sustained by quality performances from Kevin Gudahl, especially good as the jovial King Simonides, and Sean Fortunato and Ross Lehman in several parts. Fortunato first appears as the villainous and incestuous Antiochus ands en ds the play as the successful suitor for Marina's hand. Lehman is in at least three roles and he's funny in all of them."`
The Fourth Walsh - Somewhat Recommended
"...The story calls for a huge cast in a variety of locales over a few decades. And Costume Designer Nan Cibula-Jenkins takes on the ambitious task of distinctively clothing the ensemble. Cibula-Jenkins uses satin and brocade to identify royalty. She cleverly incorporates a large white toga party for a redemption themed finale. And my favorite, she dresses the bordello folks in 1970s funky fringe and beads. Her wardrobe-overhaul-changes helps the audience transition to yet another place and time. She adds a much needed vibrance to Shakespeare’s hodgepodge voyage."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...A narrating chorus of actors, playing at multiple roles with wildly adaptive temperaments, appearing and disappearing with roaring speed and hanging from rigging-ropes, creates the pirate film anew, spinning this allegorical journey from myth to human pathos. Aided by the scenic design of Scott Davis, the period-shattering, skin-celebrating costumes of Nan Cibula-Jenkins, the fine verse-nursing of Susan Felder, and the mystical, original music of Henry Marsh (intoned or sung in eerie or celebratory beauty by this company of triple-threats), it matters little that the characters themselves may be birthed in the bath of archetype; this glorious fable is greater than the sum of its parables."
