Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Thanks to computer faults I lost my review and now have to try to rewrite it. Mike Gwilym gives a great performance in the role of 'Pericles'. Young, sexy, and full of the risk of dangerous adventure, he almost leaps through the role. I will not spoil the plot which is not as confusing as some people think it is, and really I do not particularly care which parts Shakespeare wrote or not. It begins with incest, and the subject probably was not as shocking in Jacobean times as it is now, and because of that, and some quite beautiful erotic moments like the marriage of Pericles and Thaisa, which ends with the command of her father 'get you to bed' and adult scenes, British certification has given it an absurd 12 certificate. Juliet Stevenson is equally superb in the role of Thaisa, and her 'return' to life is in the same magic mould as 'The Winter's Tale', and what with the great shipwreck scene, it is in the same territory as 'The Tempest', and I cannot fault this filmed production from 1984. I lost my first draft of this review due to an internet failure and cannot recall everything I wrote, suffice to say, this is, in my opinion, one of the best of the BBC's productions of Shakespeare's plays. I loved every moment of its adventures, losses, and those lost re-found. It is late Shakespeare to the core.