There are reasons that Pericles isn’t usually taught in high school English classes alongside the biggies like Hamlet and Othello. Its soap opera string of coincidences stretch plausibility even by Elizabethan standards, and it lacks that showstopper of a soliloquy that draws either reflection or emotional response.

But in the right hands, Pericles certainly can be a lot of fun, and even a little moving. Shakespeare Theatre’s deft production, adapted to fit the outdoor setting of the Carter Barron Ampitheatre, is both. This Pericles is whimsical but not ridiculous, ethereal while never stuffy.

Summarizing Pericles’ overly-complicated plot would take much of the space of this review. The Cliffs Notes: Prince Pericles has to escape the clutches of an incestuous king whose secret he discovers, and finds refuge with a royal family that becomes his own. Circumstances separate Pericles from his wife and daughter, both of whom he mistakenly figures for dead. They are reuinited after a series of hijinks, involving, among other things, pirates and whorehouses.

With me so far?