SOURCE: Isherwood, Charles. Review of Cymbeline. Variety 386, no. 5 (18 March 2002): 33.

In the following review, Isherwood discusses Mike Alfreds's 2002 Globe Theatre Company production of Cymbeline at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; the critic argues that the play's ascetic approach “emphasized its weak points and downplayed its strengths.”

The company of the Shakespeare's Globe Theater, recently reconstituted on the South Bank of the Thames, is making its first U.S. foray this month with a leisurely visit (almost two weeks) to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Mark Rylance, the acclaimed actor who is the company's artistic chief, introduced the company's performances at BAM with a brief tribute to Sam Wanamaker, the American thesp who was instrumental in the creation of the theater. It was a gracious touch that put one in an affectionate mood, but three and a half hours later, it was hard not to wish the company had chosen...