Review: American Players Theatre finds humor and honesty in 'Cymbeline'

By Lindsay Christians, The Capital Times

A short scene about a third of the way into “Cymbeline” explains a lot about American Players Theatre’s new production.

Colleen Madden, dressed in knee-high boots and the wavy hair of an early-‘90s Musketeer, strides the stage. This is Posthumus, who married the princess in secret, was banished by the king, then made a bet with another dude against the princess’s virtue. (Bad move.)

“Vengeance, vengeance! Could I find out the woman’s part in me!” Posthumus cries. He winds himself up. All women lie, flatter and deceive. “Detest them, curse them!” he hollers. It feels like a funhouse reflection of Beatrice’s “that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace” rant in “Much Ado.”

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