FOLLOWING the successful first performances of Shakespeare’s 'Pericles, Prince of Tyre' there last month, the Willow Globe Company provide an extra chance to see the drama in the open air, near Rhayader, at 3pm this Saturday, June 15.

The unique Willow Globe theatre at Penlanole, Llanwrthwl, presented it first as part of the launch of the 2019 Shakespeare Link season, with an exciting production including singing, storms, shipwrecks and pirates, glorious music and harmonies.

'Pericles' is not well-known, not least because there are questions about how much of it was written by Shakespeare himself, but this dynamic production makes such questions irrelevant. The Willow Globe production is a vivid illustration of how a text in a book is only the starting point of a play: only when acted out on stage can the drama be properly experienced.

The complex story, sees Pericles, a major figure of ancient Greek history (and hero of Boris Johnson, apparently) suffering a series of physical and emotional endurance tests on his travels round the eastern Mediterranean but the Willow Globe cast quickly carry the audience away with them on what is a roller-coaster of incest, murderous plots, pirates and prostitutes, of treachery, love and despair, and of mystery and magic.

There is plenty of humour too, including a nice little piece of editing so that the interval is announced with a rhyming couplet about how it’s now time for tea.

This production is supported by a strong team of musicians who add to the excitement with exuberant folk music and sound effects, plus a particularly poignant song, sung at one of the key moments in the play by Pericles’ daughter Marina.

The Willow Globe Company will then leave on a tour that will include Llowes Court at Hay-on-Wye, at 4pm on June 30.

Shakespeare Link continue fortnightly Have-a-go at Shakespeare workshops at the Wyeside Arts Centre, Builth Wells, on Friday.

And Willow Globe theatre events continue on Saturday, June 22, when up to 20 Sundanese Gamelin performers from London and Indonesia will run a workshop and performance.