The first time I read Cymbeline was also the last time. What a strange strange play.. and the ending seemed contrived - especially for Shakespeare. But a project has been busy adapting it to modern times - specifically to the anthropocene era. CBC's Ideas show had an episode last year. (audio and partial transcript).. it sort of makes sense.
snip
...
But Canadian scholars Randall Martin and Rebecca Salazar argue that Cymbeline contains important lessons for us now in the Anthropocene.
"It's a play of emotional and experiential extremes. It's a play of resilience, focused mainly on the journey of Imogen from the court into her own banishment. She goes into Wales, eventually returns to the court, and that journey symbolically represents a regeneration of the anti-environmental attitudes of the court," said Martin.
"That represents a kind of a beacon for what we need to face the current crisis with the kind of resilience and survivor skills that Imogen demonstrates."
The play is famous for its sprawling, knotted plot. But Salazar believes the chaotic storyline makes the play fit for adaptations about the climate crisis, "particularly because it's such a huge problem that's attacking us on more fronts and larger scales than we've ever been able to comprehend."
...
Comments