Perhaps not surprisingly, the story of "Pericles" revolves around Pericles (played by leather pants-clad Daniel Farbman '01). In order to marry the daughter of Antiochus (Nathaniel Miller '01), Pericles has to answer Antiochus' riddle. Pericles solves the riddle, but hesitates to state the answer because it involves the incestuous relationship between Antiochus and his daughter. Rather than respond, Pericles chooses to leave on a voyage (after escaping a murder attempt).
After being shipwrecked, Pericles meets the King of Simonides (Bernard Bygott '02E) and his daughter, Thaisa (Rebecca Johnson '03). Thaisa and Pericles are instantly smitten, and the rest of the play revolves around Pericles' subsequent travels, as well as those of his daughter, Marina (Cristina Septien '01). Along the way, pirates, whores and the goddess Diana make their appearance.
Riordan chose to adapt and direct "Pericles" for his senior project in the department of theater and dance because of the challenges that it posed to him. "It was exciting in that I had to adapt it to make it work," said Riordan. "There weren't any easy answers. I wanted something ambitious for my senior project."
"The role is interesting because there's a big time leap in the middle of the play," said Farbman. "One of the big challenges is to age in 10 minutes."
Riordan said that one of his main interests in the play was its narrative and action. For example, Riordan reworked the role of the narrator, Gower (Garon Taylor-Tyree '02), by removing Gower's lines that revealed plot twists that occur later in the story. "I have more of a connection with the audience," said Farbman of Riordan's adaptation. "They don't know until I know."
In addition, although Riordan did not rewrite the play, he reordered some of the scenes and added repetitions of parts of scenes to change the way the story is presented to the audience. "I tried to make it a little more suspenseful," he said.
"Pericles," as Shakespeare wrote it, has over 40 characters and runs over three hours, Riordan explained. He pared the play down to 14 actors (most in multiple roles) and a running time of under two hours.
"I was just trying to congeal 14 different actors," said Riordan, who described the play as an ensemble piece. "I was trying to place them into this world that is the play and within that to differentiate between the different worlds of the play."
"It's intentionally theater," he explained. "The space is the world of the play."
The costumes, designed by Marina Reti '01, vary from leather pants to Regis-style dress shirt and tie combinations. Some have the bright and platformed look that resembles the fashion of the '60s and '70s.
"We were pushing a high fashion aesthetic, and, in a way, that falls into a retro feel," said Riordan. "We weren't trying to recreate that period as much as using the style of that period to highlight and stylize our more modern period."
He explained that the inspiration for the set-several black platforms-is drawn from the Russian constructivist period, which emphasized function. "You can really tell exactly how the set has been made," said set designer Samantha Ender '01E.
"We wanted something that was going to not necessarily connote a particular time or place," she added.
Because the set in itself does not evoke the specific locations of the play, Riordan said that to differentiate between the various locations of the play he had to use other techniques, such as pacing and using the actors in different ways.
"He's been pressing me to make my physicality as precise as possible," said Farbman.
The world that Riordan creates onstage is far from the Elizabethan world that Shakespeare wrote it in. "It's a spectacle and not anything nearly approaching realism," said Riordan. "It's a modern encounter with an old play."