From the archives…

A Rare and Satisfying CYMBELINE at Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre

CYMBELINE is one of Shakespeare’s later and lesser-known works, not often performed and hard to classify. Though inspired by legends about an ancient British king named Cunobelinus, it is not a true history, since the playwright added many invented sub-plots to his complex story. It has been called both a tragedy and a comedy, but is more accurately a romance, with a dominant theme of spousal jealousy (perhaps borrowed from Boccaccio’s DECAMERON II.