Theatre II Shakespeare's Other Prince PERICLES, at Dunster House this weekend

SHAKESPEARE, and Abe Burrows don't have a hell of a lot in common: even Veriety admits that. But Shakespeare, like Burrows, occasionally worked as a play doctor, called in to liven up a closing act that didn't work, to throw in a few good lines here and there. Somebody, nobody knows quite who, once called him in to patch up a dreadful little play about an exiled Greek prince, and the result is now known as The Tragedy of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

Pericles does not appear in either the First or Second Folio of Shakespeare; it was first published under his name in 1609. This is not conclusive evidence that the play is not his, but it points in that direction. Certainly the finale is Shakespearean, but the first two acts of the play are so inept that they could hardly be authentic. In any case, the Dunster House production of the play, which runs through this weekend, is probably the first since the Royal Shakespeare Company did it ten years ago, and may be the last for a long time.

Pericles has a weak plot, involving a Prince of Tyre, who finds himself pursued, for various obscure yet slimy reasons, by agents of the King of Antioch. In the course of the play, he gets through seven cities, and at least as many shipwrecks, winning and losing and finding and losing and finally being re-united with his wife, his kingdom, and his daughter, not necessarily in that order. Much of the play is completely dispensable, but the section which starts when Pericles' daughter is sold into prostitution is masterful, obviously Shakespeare.

The Dunster House version, directed by David Savran, is remarkably good. Savran has studied the play, and he understands its demands, especially in casting. Scott Minerbrook, his Pericles, has a voice well matched to the role, one of the strongest stage voices I've heard in a Harvard actor. His presence is not all it could be, however, his gestures not always matched to his lines. Miles Drake gives a lively interpretation of Gower, the narrator, although he has one of those lanky bodies which always manage to look ludicrous in a tunic. David Walter as Boult and Pamela Walter as Bawd make the brothel scene, the turning point of the play, work marvelously, affecting highly stylized but quite accurate Cockney accents. Gwendolyn Parker, both as Pericles' wife and his daughter, gives a beautifully convincing performance; she lives her role, sympathizing perfectly with both the faithful wife and chaste daughter of the exile prince. Her performance alone would make the production worthwhile.

Pericles is a rare play, one which audiences seldom get the chance to see; this production would be worth seeing as a curiosity, even if it weren't good. It is one of very few shows which were saved from closing on the road by Shakespeare.