As the complicated plots draw to a close, Imogen, dressed as a boy to disguise her true identity, and Posthumus, now enlisted in the Roman army and serving as a soldier, are finally reunited. Witnessing the reunion are King Cymbeline, Cornelius the physician and Belaria and her daughter Cadwal. Belaria and Cadwal, who offered Imogen the humble hospitality of their cave when she was wandering in the woods, represent the natural world, another subplot of the play. Imogen comments on how much nobler their lives are than those of the nobles in court.
King Cymbeline learns of his daughter's marriage to Posthumus and banishes him from Britain, forcing him to take up residence in Italy.
The Queen orders the physician Cornelius to bring her a poison potion. Knowing her evil nature, Cornelius instead brings a concoction that will induce sleep resembling death.
Before the lovers part they exchange tokens. Imogen gives Posthumus a diamond ring and he gives her his bracelet. In Italy, Posthumus brags on Imogene's virtues and makes a wager with Iachimo that she will be faithful to him despite his banishment. Iachimo sails to Britain, sneaks into Imogen's bedchamber and removes the bracelet while she is sleeping. He returns to Italy and tells Posthumus he has bedded Imogen and produces the bracelet as irrefutable proof.
A well-organized backstage set up is required for the production of Cymbeline. The troupe's eight actors and actresses not only perform the roles of fourteen different characters, they also have to move props on and off the stage as required.
SEELEY LAKE – After a year of epidemic-inflicted hiatus, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks (MSIP) greeted a large audience of eager playgoers on the grounds of the Double Arrow Lodge Aug. 16. The traveling troupe performed "Cymbeline," one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays. It is also considered one of the playwright's most ambitious and complicated plays, with multiple plots and subplots.
Sometimes classified as a romance, the play portrays the trials of two lovers, King Cymbeline's daughter Imogen and Posthumus the man she has secretly married, though he is beneath her royal station.
The first productions of the play in early seventeenth century, however, billed it not as a romance but as "The Tragedie of Cymbeline." The play certainly flirts with tragedy as Posthumus, erroneously believing Imogen has been unfaithful, contracts to have her killed. Meanwhile, Imogen at one point comes upon a headless corpse dressed in Posthumus' clothes and believes it be her lover. But these and other calamities are untangled in the end. Everyone forgives everyone else, creating the classic fairy tale happy ending, which in Renaissance times fit the definition of comedy. For that reason, some critics classify Cymbeline as a tragi-comedy.
MSIP's production, directed by Kevin Asselin, tended more toward the romance/comedy/fairy tale side. The historical Cymbeline was an early Celtic British king (Cunobeline). Legends about him and other early British notables formed what is known as the Matter of Britain. Like the tales of King Arthur, the legends, while based on presumed historical figures, often wandered into the magical or fairy tale realm. To evoke that quality, Asselin's Imogen wears a frock more reminiscent of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale than of a Celtic princess. King Cymbeline, his queen and her son Cloten wear Renaissance era ruffs, though the vibrant colors and extended lengths suggest buffoonery rather than royalty.
Asselin also pared down the plays complexity to make it more manageable to perform outdoors in a two-hour time frame and with a cast of only eight performers.
Largely oblivious to classifications, abbreviated plots and other scholarly technicalities, the audience members unfolded their chairs or spread out their blankets and settled themselves on the Double Arrow lawn for an evening of satisfying entertainment.
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