Shakespeare isn’t always my first choice when it comes to dramas, but when I saw Cymbeline, performed by the Barnstable High School Drama Club and directed by Mr. Ed O’Toole, I was impressed. The cast and crew put together a coherent adaptation of a rather confusing play, interspersed with modern humor and fabulous acting.

Cymbeline is a cross between a tragedy and a romance, as it highlights the repercussions of death, but also love and jealousy–with a twist, of course.

Cymbeline (Chris Kennedy), King of Britain, disapproves of his daughter, Imogen’s (Alicia Pierozzi) secret marriage to Posthumus Leonatus (Charlie Nash), a boy who Cymbeline raised. Cymbeline disapproves and banishes Posthumus, but not before Posthumus gives Imogen a bracelet, and she gives him a ring as symbols of their love. Posthumus heads to Rome, where he brags about Imogen to Iachimo (Colby Burbank), a new acquaintance, who bets Posthumus he can seduce her.

Oh, and there’s also Cymbeline’s awful queen (Virginia Ohlson) who plans to kill Imogen, Cymbeline’s two missing sons who dramatically reappear (Jenny Griffin and Saarah Murphy), Imogen faking her death and pretending to be a guy, the queen’s oafish son Cloten (Thomas Sances) and his antics, and a huge war that turns out well for Cymbeline in the end.

And that’s just in Act I.

To make the dense plot more understandable and certainly funnier, the added narrators were absolutely phenomenal. Played by Brendan Burke, Hannah Carlon, Dorothy Diaz-Sullivan, and Hannah Wolfe, the four were perfectly casted, adding some subtle and some not-so-subtle humor while clarifying some of the more confusing plot points. I would have been completely lost (and maybe a little bored) without them.

All of them were cast as multiple roles in the actual play, and their humor certainly carried over into the plot. Burke and Carlon’s performances in particular were memorable; Burke as a physician who exchanges the Queen’s poison for a sleeping draft, and Carlon as a Frenchman and friend to Posthumus, often in the same scene.

However, superb acting was not exclusive to the narrators–all of the acting was smooth and well rehearsed; the effort put into each role was evident, and was well-received by the audience. I enjoyed the chemistry between Nash and Pierozzi, and Kennedy as Cymbeline was also perfect, his expressions and emotions quite convincing.

Griffin and Murphy’s portrayals as Cymbeline’s lost sons, Arviragus and Guiderius, were so funny to watch. The two sons are essentially barbaric cavemen, and both actors played the parts well without it coming off as too silly or too ridiculous. I wasn’t a huge fan of the brothers singing to a sleeping Imogen though. While their vocals were great, it felt a little out of place.

I had a few minor qualms with the performance–set changes and sound quality. I did see one of the first few nights of the play, but set changes were not very smooth and took a little longer than in other plays. I felt like some of the sound effects and music were off, too loud or too quiet at the wrong times. While these did not detract from the play as a whole, they were prominent enough and repeated throughout the show.

Overall, I truly enjoyed watching Cymbeline. It was well adapted to suit its audience, entertaining, and interesting. (If Shakespeare daunts you, fear not, there is a synopsis of the plot in the program.)

See Cymbeline this weekend, May 15-17 at 7 p.m. in the Knight Theater. Tickets are $10.