York Shakespeare Project director Sophie Paterson explains why Pericles really is a play of two halves

"It's certainly a difficult play because only half of it is his," says Sophie, an MA student at the University of York, who is nevertheless delighted to be directing York Shakespeare Project's 29th production at the Upstage Centre, Monkgate, York, in the week of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

"Shakespeare was at this place in his life where his career was kind of running down and he was writing romances, coming off his long stretch of epic tragedies, and Pericles was the first of those romances.

"The story goes that George Wilkins [by profession an inn-keeper, but allegedly involved in criminal activities too] came up to Shakespeare in the pub and said, 'Bill, I'm working on this play; I've been commissioned to do it but can't make it work; could you help?'."

Shakespeare said yes, and so emerged a play of two halves. "Wilkins sets up the first two acts, jumping around all over the place, which would be OK for a movie, but how do you make that work on stage? But then does the contrast make the romance work?

"It's like it's two different plays: the first is about Pericles at sea; then, when his daughter Marina becomes involved, it's all about Marina, who is so good and special, and she comes out as the more important figure. So you can see this play as the groundwork that sets up Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, the last of the romances."

Sophie, who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre/Original Works from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, is at present studying for an MA in writing, directing and performance at the University of York's department of theatre, film and television. She is directing YSP for the first time, working with a cast of nine.

Director Sophie Paterson

She has decided to set her version of Pericles in a seaside pub, The Gower, replete with rousing sea-shanties and plenty of beer. "The audience will enter an 18th Century pub, full of the warmth of hearth light, with the regulars singing and socialising," she says, outlining her directorial vision. "This is a place where friends and strangers, family old and new, are welcome.

"We're playing it with all the actors being on stage all the time and performing it as a play within a play with a community of people who all know each other well and always tell this story when times get tough, as happens here.

"Everyone is playing up to four roles apart from Pericles and Marina, so it's fun to have the relationship between the community and how they interact with the characters they play. So we'll be opening the house half an hour before the show so the audience can see the community's relationships being set up."

York was an inspiration for Sophie's pub setting. "I was thinking a lot about how York was once said to have a pub for every day of the year within the city walls, so that was part of the thinking behind the staging in a pub, when doing it in this city."

Sophie, 28, "loves this play and has a long history with it", having played Marina in her Seattle student days and first been introduced to it even earlier. "I had always loved King Lear, and when my parents split up when I was 16, someone said, 'Lear's not helping you, take a look at Pericles'," she recalls.

Her first reaction was not enthusiastic when encountering the Pericles scenes at sea. "But then there's the reunion scene, where it takes them forever to establish that they know each other, with the audience sitting there with their stomachs tightening, but for me, as a 16 year old who had just seen her dad leave, it was life changing."

York Shakespeare Project's Pericles will be performed at Upstage Centre, 41 Monkgate, York, from tomorrow to Saturday at 7.30pm plus a 2pm Saturday matinee. Tickets are available at £12, concessions £10, on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or on the door from 7pm and 1.30pm.