Cymbeline

One of Shakespeare’s late plays rewritten in contemporary language.
 
In her modern translation of Cymbeline, Andrea Thome takes up one of Shakespeare’s most complex plays. Thome’s update brings the play’s language into the present, highlighting new resonances and providing a more accessible version of Shakespeare’s play for today’s audiences. One of Shakespeare’s final plays, Cymbeline tells the story of the British king Cymbeline and his daughter, Imogen. It is a tale of deceit and jealousy, with accusations of infidelity that often draw comparisons to Othello and The Winter’s Tale.

This translation of Cymbeline was written as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Play On! project, which commissioned new translations of thirty-nine Shakespeare plays. These translations present the work of “The Bard” in language accessible to modern audiences while never losing the beauty of Shakespeare’s verse. Enlisting the talents of a diverse group of contemporary playwrights, screenwriters, and dramaturges from diverse backgrounds, this project reenvisions Shakespeare for the twenty-first century. These volumes make these works available for the first time in print—a new First Folio for a new era.