Pericles, Prince of Tyre

When you imagine the characters that inhabit Shakespeare’s plays you likely imagine queens, kings, dukes, duchesses, fools, women dressed as men, twins dressed as each other, but probably not … pirates? The play starts with a friendly little riddle in which the king of Antioch reveals he is having an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Pericles immediately sees the answer to the riddle, is understandably revolted, and so leaves the city. Several exploits later, Pericles marries Thaisa, but she seems to die in childbirth and then their infant daughter, Marina, is kidnapped by (you guessed it) pirates and sold into a brothel. As she grows up, Marina manages to stay chaste by becoming an accomplished musician and convincing all her would-be johns that they should engage in pursuits more virtuous than whoring. Years later, it turns out that Thaisa didn’t die, Pericles discovers and recognizes the adult Marina, and the parents are joyfully reunited with their daughter. I initially balked at using another skull to represent this play (feeling I’d reached my skull quotient with Hamlet) but the chance to bring pirates into the project was just too tempting. I’m still not really sure what the incest at the beginning really has to do with the rest of the play – probably a bit of Bardish titillation to get people to stay for the rest of it. But that’s just my guess.