On Friday, for the first time in some 30 years, Britain’s illustrious Royal Shakespeare Company will open a show in Chicago — William Shakespeare’s “Pericles,” now in previews in Chicago Shakespeare’s Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier.
There are plans for more collaborations between the two companies. RSC co-artistic director Tamara Harvey, who is directing “Pericles,” spoke to the Tribune about the production and future plans in a conversation also attended by Chicago Shakespeare artistic director Ed Hall. The following has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: I remember “Pericles” in 2014 in a memorable Chicago Shakespeare production starring the Canadian actor Ben Carlson. It’s very much a play about transformation and immortality, no?
This is the first play I’ve directed for the RSC and one of the reasons I wanted to do it at this moment in the world is because there is such fragility and complexity and uncertainty and I think people are dealing with so many different challenges in their lives. Theater can and should offer us hope and joy and this play has a strange power in those terms. It transports us and takes us through storms literal and metaphorical, through grief, through loss. But in the end, it does offer this breathtaking moment of hope and reunion and it ends with the words, “new joy wait on you.”
Q: Has it been done often at the RSC over the years?
Not really. It hasn’t been done in 18 years and it has never been directed at the RSC by a woman before. One of the other joys of doing “Pericles” is that people don’t know it that well, so you can be more playful and experimental with the text.
Q: People know “The Tempest” and “The Winter’s Tale” and maybe even “Cymbeline” better than “Pericles.”
I think so. But in the last 20 years, “Pericles” has been performed more often, worldwide, than in the preceding 200. It’s making a slow comeback.
Q: Shakespeare was older when he wrote it. Maybe he was more attuned to mortality.
There is also a kind of devil-may-care attitude in writers when they get older — if they have the confidence, the defiance.
Q: August Wilson was that way.
I love that feeling in “Pericles.”
Q: What’s your conceit for the production?
We’ve created our own world. Contemporary dress didn’t feel appropriate. Neither does our show firmly land in a particular era or any one place. But it has an ancient feel in the look of it. We took our inspiration from ships and shipbuilding and from the opening lines, “to sing a song that old was sung, from ashes ancient we are come.” “Pericles” is very upfront with its own storytelling.
Q: And this staging so far has been seen only in the U.K.?
We opened in the Swan in Stratford in the summer, closed, everybody took two weeks off and then we all came to Chicago. We kept almost all of the original cast together.
Q: The Swan and the CST’s Courtyard are quite similar, no?
The Courtyard is bigger. It’s an American theater. But they make a perfect artistic match.
Q: What’s the state of RSC touring?
Beyond “Matilda,” which is on a new tour, this collaboration with Chicago Shakespeare is helping us re-ignite our U.S. touring, post pandemic. We hope it is the beginning of a new era.
Q: You didn’t want to go somewhere else as well?
You have to really careful about the length of commitment when you want to hold a company together, especially when actors have caregiving responsibilities. I think that is something that has really changed over the years.
Q: So the idea of a direct Chicago-Stratford exchange is something you want to repeat?
Definitely. We hope this will be the first step in a long-lasting relationship. There’s the personal side in that Ed and I have worked together for years. There is the incredible synchronicity of our two companies and the values we hold dear. And then we together have these two spaces, where you could pick up a show and drop it in the other space. Plus, the two companies have a really shared artistic program with Shakespeare as the beating heart but with classic and contemporary voices standing shoulder to shoulder.
(This final question was answered by Chicago Shakespeare’s Ed Hall.)
Q: So how was all this funded? It’s not cheap to bring over an entire company.
This was a huge undertaking for both of our companies. I think there are two school of thoughts about how to navigate this slightly unpredictable moment in the theater business. One is to tread carefully. The other is to believe that the more you invest, the more you get back. That’s the way we have gone. I feel the RSC is the most exciting and respected Shakespeare company in the world and so it felt like a really good moment to bring them back into Chicago. We’ve had incredible support from our city. Individuals who have a great sense of civic pride and who have written very large checks to bring the RSC here. There’s definitely one more piece of work we are doing together in the next season, and possibly two.
Royal Shakespeare Company’s “Pericles” runs through Dec. 7 in Chicago Shakespeare’s Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave.; 312-595-5600 and www.chicagoshakes.com
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
