The Oxford Shakespeare

One of Shakespeare's most perplexing and unclassifiable late plays, Cymbeline is often labelled a "Romance", due to its themes of pastoralism, exile and familial reconciliation which critics notice recur throughout Shakespeare's last plays, from Pericles to The Tempest. Set in ancient Roman Britain at the court of the British king Cymbeline, the main action of the play revolves around the relationship between Cymbeline's daughter, Imogen, and Posthumous Leonatus. Attempting to marry Imogen off to Cloten, the grotesque son of Cymbeline's second wife, the king banishes Posthumous in a rage when he discovers he has secretly married Imogen. As the personal relationships in the play deteriorate, on the public stage Rome prepares to invade Britain due to Cymbeline's failure to pay tribute to his imperial master. As the play builds to its militaristic climax, Posthumous returns to Britain, where he eventually contrives a reunion with Imogen and Cymbeline's long-lost sons, who unite in their attempt to resist the might of Rome.

The ending of the play, with its series of mystical riddles, unlikely coincidences and extraordinary reunions has baffled critics for centuries. Some read it as a heavy-handed political allegory of Jacobean national union under the new sovereign of the time, King James I, whilst others see in it Shakespeare pushing theatrical realism to its furthermost limits, with its decapitated bodies, complex staging and unlikely mistaken identities. Cymbeline remains a puzzling, enigmatic play. --Jerry Brotton

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Wonderful play - skittish edition - Rated
Cymbeline is a wonderful work; why don't we see it more often?

However, this edition is a mixed bag. Warren's insistence on calling the main female character Innogen (instead of the more usual Imogen) is irritating after a while - however well-attested. "When the legend becomes true, print the legend."

I'm not convinced about his text either, some of his ideas seem wayward and quirky -as if he is trying to put his mark on the play instead of trying to reveal it in all its glory.

The play is better than this edition would let you know.

Brilliant analysis and evaluation of a great play - Rated
Granville-Barker's prefaces to Shakespeare are highly regarded as the first such written from a theatrical (as opposed to literary) point of view. This approach pays particularly high dividends in dealing with this, one of WS's least appreciated plays. (I am currently appearing in a production of it in NYC -- in a small role.) Jan Kott, in describing "Troilus and Cressida" in the 60's, called it "amazing and modern." Cymbeline, in the 90's, seems strikingly post-modern, and Granville Barker, writing in the 20's, accurately describes features of the play which speak strongly to our highly collage-like contemporary approach to art. Highly recommended (as is the Arden edition of the play itself, probably the most charming of all the Arden editions).