Sunday, October 23, 2016

Pericles at Ten Thousand Things Theater

Ansa Akyea (as Pericles) and
Peter Vitale (in the background)
(TTT web photo)
I was going to write this post about Pericles (through November 6 at Open Book) in the form of the ten thousand things that I love about Ten Thousand Things Theater company, but that seemed vaguely familiar.

Mostly because I already wrote that in 2015. By the way, all of my points still apply. They're amazing.

Pericles is directed and adapted by Michelle Hensley, and as usual, she makes Shakespeare beautifully accessible. I love this from the Director's Note: "I cut Pericles to about two hours in length--I don't think most of us today want to sit and watch Shakespeare to much longer than that--at least I certainly don't." Amen to that.

One of the best aspects of Ten Thousand Things's unique performing style (all the lights on, seating in the round, minimalist sets, costuming and music) is the ability to see some of the Twin Cities's best actors up close, doing what they do best.

And the cast is fabulous, especially Ansa Akyea as Pericles, whose amazing face I could watch for hours. TTT favorites Karen Weise-Thompson and Maggie Chestovich do their customary amazing, hilarious, poignant work. It's also so lovely to be able to see actors who are new to TTT such as Jucoby Johnson, Pearce Bunting, Audrey Park, James Rodriguez and Tatiana Williams work their actorly magic in TTT's setting.

What else is there to say? It's Ten Thousand Things Theater. Go see it. Support them and their amazing work.

By the way, this is the second major production of Pericles this year in the Twin Cities. Read our review of the Guthrie's January 2016 production.