The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Cymbeline is the latest in its Power Shifts season and marks the 50th RSC production that Gregory Doran has directed. 

Doran expertly draws out the humour and drama of the piece in equal measure: there are many moments which had last night’s audience in stitches, along with truly poignant and moving scenes. Overall, the play is delightfully jovial and runs like a train, with twisting plot lines becoming more entangled before the tension breaks into a deservedly spectacular finale.

The stage is overcast by a huge moon, characters swear oaths to their god Jupiter, and a soothsayer describes a vision of an eagle disappearing into the sun. But these planetary portents seem to be largely ignored - the characters are much more concerned with human mishaps.  

Cymbeline, adeptly portrayed by Peter de Jersey, is the King of Britain, who has lost something of his past glory. His daughter, Imogen (Amber James), has married her childhood sweetheart, Posthumus (Ed Sayer).  

From these humble beginnings, the plot starts to spiral, and our gleeful villains are introduced: The couple’s marriage is forbidden by Cymbeline, the rejection masterminded by his queen, a ‘devilish’ Evil Stepmother figure - brought to life by Alexandra Gilbreath - who seems to revel in every maniacal second.  
The Queen would rather Imogen marry her oafish son, Cloten (Conor Glean), who swaggers about, still bringing sinister moments to a largely comic character.  

Posthumus is banished to Rome, where he is goaded into a wager by Iachimo (Jamie Wilkes), who bets that he can seduce Imogen. Amber James’ Imogen is pleasingly fierce and gutsy in the face of several objectionable men and, provided with a disguise by loyal Pisano (Mark Hadfield), sets out to reclaim her honour.

With the addition of two delightful Welsh brothers hungry for glory and adventure (Scott Gutteridge and Daf Thomas), and their more cautious father (Christian Patterson), the plot becomes even more intricate. However, as usual the audience is in capable hands. Every performer on stage gives us moments of true brilliance, with many beautifully delivered, very funny lines.

Audience members well versed in Shakespeare will appreciate the ‘mash-up’ of oft-deployed plotlines that appear throughout the play. Everything from the costumes and staging to the live music, composed by Paul Englishby, feels like a familiar Shakespeare production - with a twist.  

Cymbeline is a play of contrasts, neatly summed up by the decision to divide it into three distinct parts: The Wager, Wales and The War (with a standard interval after Part One and a short break after Part Two). An absolute joy, the production is playing in Stratford until the final Saturday of this month.

Four Stars

Reviewed by Jessica Clixby at Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Wednesday 3 May. Cymbeline shows at
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon until Saturday 27 May.