Innogen, daughter of King Cymbeline, has displeased her father by marrying Posthumus. In exile, Posthumus proclaims the beauty of his wife to the villainous Iachimo and lays a wager on her fidelity. But Iachimo will stop at nothing to prove that Innogen has been unfaithful – and Posthumus seems implacable in his revenge.

Strange, erotic, moving and politically charged, Cymbeline is perhaps the most psychologically acute of Shakespeare’s great late romantic quartet.

Images by Marc Brenner

Reviews

One To Watch | THE INDEPENDENT “Sam Yates’s sophisticated production… takes beautifully simple and fully-felt advantage of the venue’s candle-lit intimacy.”

Critics’ Choice | THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | Best plays now on “Director Sam Yates embraces the fairytale aspects of the drama with an enthusiasm kept in check by excellently clear verse-speaking and moments of piercing emotional clarity.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES | Matt Wolf “One would be hard-pressed to come across a more delightful reckoning of this particular text than can now be found at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse…Mr. Yates’s cast brings together a welcome mixture of ethnicities and accents, as seems appropriate to a story that traverses multiple locales, while keeping at least one foot grounded in the otherworldly realm of the fairy tale.”

4**** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | Jane Shilling “Sam Yates’s engaging production gets its priorities right: the verse is spoken with precision; the virtues (and faults) of the text are honestly acknowledged. And the audience responded with warmth.”

4**** THE FINANCIAL TIMES | Sarah Hemming “Sam Yates’s spry, immensely engaging production… Pauline McLynn is a joy as the queen … Emily Barber’s posh, brave and funny Innogen is wonderful.”

4**** THE INDEPENDENT | Paul Taylor “Sam Yates’s production rises to the drama’s complicated occasion in a production that takes beautifully simple and fully-felt advantage of the venue’s gilded, candle-lit intimacy… An exceptionally skilful and engaging cast expedite Yates’s poetically supple and humane vision of the piece.”

4**** EVENING STANDARD | Henry Hitchins “Director Sam Yates works hard to make this mishmash of tragedy, comedy, history and romance appear coherent. The result is a clear, engaging production that relishes the play… as Innogen newcomer Emily Barber projects just the right mix of innocence, vigour and humour.”

4**** WHAT’S ON STAGE | Dasiy Bowie-Sell “It’s one of the highlights of a production that is full of surprises.”

4**** THE STAGE | Gerald Berkowitz “Sam Yates’ fast-moving and never flagging production. Emily Barber plays as strong and assertive, equally passionate in love, anger and grief.”

4**** THEATRE CAT | Libby Purves (BBC Radio 4) “Yates’ cast permit us (amid the moving embraces) to shake with gales of laughter. That’s the way to do it… Emily Barber as Innogen: graduated only last year and a real find.”

3*** THE TIMES | Kate Bassett “Sam Yates’ staging becomes almost beatific at the close… This Cymbeline indeed reaches a transcendent plane of forgiveness, serene peace and joy that genuinely feels like salvation.”

4**** MY THEATRE MATES | Jonathan Baz “Barber’s performance is a high point, offering a lively representation of youth, love and beauty of heart… well worth seeing.”

4**** THE METROPOLIST | Josh Phillips “But that it doesn’t just hang together, but positively sings, is testament to Yates’ sensitivity as a director, his acute awareness of the text’s highs and its lows, its shortcomings as well as its triumphs, and the cast’s commitment to a difficult play.”

4**** LIVE THEATRE UK | Stephen Collins “Emily Barber plays Imogen as smart, independent and outspoken … It’s a complete and totally captivating performance.

THEATRE GUIDE LONDON | Gerald Berkowitz “Yates discovers that the happy, sometimes mock-heroic, sometimes silly for the sake of being silly, audience-embracing quality of a panto does carry the play more effectively.”

BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE | Howard Loxton “This is a production in which almost every layer is in command of the verse, making sense flow freely so that it works its effect without drawing undue attention to its form.”

PHILLY.COM | Toby Zinman “A theatrical experience both entertaining and transporting, authentic and fine in a rare way.”