One of Shakespeare's last plays, Cymbeline tells the story of a British royal family based loosely on an apocryphal Cymbeline, who supposedly lived in the first century. Like The Tempest or The Winter's Tale, other late plays classified as "Romances," Cymbeline mixes comedy and tragedy, resulting in a drama unlike much of Shakespeare's more familiar work. Critics complain that Cymbeline simply rehashes elements of Shakespeare's earlier plays-one finds strong parallels to characters and relationships from King Lear, Othello, Romeo and Juliet-but producer Julia Griffin '03 takes the opposite view: late in his career, she contends, Shakespeare had "figured out what he liked and disliked in characters-so, for instance, he gave his heroine the best attributes of many previous heroines." She also notes that the play's original plot and fairy-tale feel may make Cymbeline a pleasant surprise for audiences raised on somber standards like Hamlet. Director Eric Fleisig-Greene '01 plans a small-scale, technically simple production that focuses on character and language; the black-box setup of the Loeb Ex and the production's relatively long rehearsal time promise to help his cast along toward this goal of finely crafted storytelling.

Damaged Ground

Mid-February

by Jessica Kaye '01

directed by Jessica Kaye '01

producer and location to be announced