Original Cuttings

The following is an example of things I looked to cut:

Good Helicane, that stay'd at home,
Not to eat honey like a drone
From others' labours; for though he strive
To killen bad, keep good alive;
And to fulfil his prince' desire,
Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:
How Thaliard came full bent with sin
And had intent to murder him;
And that in Tarsus was not best
Longer for him to make his rest.
He, doing so, put forth to seas,
Where when men been, there's seldom ease;
For now the wind begins to blow;
Thunder above and deeps below
Make such unquiet, that the ship
Should house him safe is wreck'd and split;
And he, good prince, having all lost,
By waves from coast to coast is tost:
All perishen of man, of pelf,
Ne aught escapen but himself;
Till fortune, tired with doing bad,
Threw him ashore, to give him glad:
And here he comes. What shall be next,

The above said by Gower really serves not much purpose rather than to recap the play. In a play that most likely has time constraints, a recap is probably not favorable. Not to mention, the narrator  would appreciate the relieving of these lines.

Another example of something I cut:

Were all too little to content and please,
Although they gave their creatures in abundance,
As houses are defiled for want of use,
They are now starved for want of exercise:
Those palates who, not yet two summers younger,
Must have inventions to delight the taste,
Would now be glad of bread, and beg for it:
Those mothers who, to nousle up their babes,
Thought nought too curious, are ready now
To eat those little darlings whom they loved.

The above is said by Cleon before Pericles is in Tarsus giving them the wheat. Cleon pretty much goes on and on and on about how hungry the people of his land are. We get it, they are beyond famished. I think that a few examples would suffice rather to lengthen the scene and lose the audience's attention. Additionally, much more dramatic examples can serve the purpose fine such as:

So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife
Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life:
Here stands a lord, and there a lady weeping;
Here many sink, yet those which see them fall
Have scarce strength left to give them burial.

If that is not polarizing to paint an image of the hunger problems, I don't know what is.