The Winter's Tale

I loved it. The more I think about it, the more I enjoyed it. I'm going to stand by my opinion. I haven't read any reviews, no one else I know has seen it (yet). 

I say all this because the big G gets quite a bit of gruff from theatre folks in the city. There's a TON of theatre, and I would love to see it. But not too many companies do shows on Sunday nights. Anyway, the Big Blue Palace is a source of contention for some and not for others.

Before we dive into my "review," I'm going to give you some background factoids.

SOME BACKGROUND FACTOIDS:

1. I had a pretty bad cold.
2. I popped some DayQuill for the second time that day 1 half-hour before the show.
3. I had a cheap ticket (it was a Facebook discount).
4. My seat was in the fourth row on the stage right side of the thrust.
5. I was sitting next to a director or designer or coach of some kind. I'm not sure who; but it was clear they were part of the production/creative team from the papers I spied. (I did everything I could to see the notes, but anymore staring and I would have been given strange looks. I should have just asked him what his role was. Of course, he darted up the stairs at intermission and at the top of the show. Needless to say, I realized I was a bit self conscious about how I was taking in the play. That went away once I figured out just what the heck was going on).
6. I went by myself. (I have no shame in this)
7. I have never seen nor read the play.
8. The only information I know about the play is as follows: it has the famous stage direction "Exit, pursued by a bear"; people have a difficult time labeling it (is a tragedy? is it a comedy? is it something else all entirely?)
9. Prior to seeing the play, the actor playing Odysseus mentioned that at its core, the play is about jealousy and that it's pretty odd. He admitted to not knowing a whole lot beyond that.

I mention all these bits because A) I'm having fun writing this and B) I feel like I have an unusually "objective" reading on the text. 

This review/whatever you want to call it contains spoilers about the story and this specific production.

Here we go:

The basic story is that Leontes (King of Sicily) is married to Hermione. His good friend, brother (?) (Polixenes) is seen "canoodling" with his wife (my word). Leontes gets jealous over the assumed affair (that is NOT happening), throws his wife in jail, and sends his wife's newborn daughter out of the country. This tears the kingdom apart.  There's a lot of shouting, sobbing, and death at the end. It's a whirlwind of action. And it'd brutal.

The woman playing Paulina was stunning. She pleaded for her case brilliantly. I'm sorry I'm not giving any context for this character. But she's rooting for truth and hoping to alleviate the situation (but to no avail...until the very, very end).

Leontes orders Antigonus to take the child away (he was hellbent on killing her...). So Antigonus goes to Bohemia, says farewell to the newborn (this was one of the most touching and beautiful moments of the show) in the middle of a terrible storm. He leaves with her some royal papers explaining her royal birth and lineage.

[This is when the bear enters, chasing Antigonus offstage and mauling him to death]

After the storm, a lowly shepherd discovers the young girl and takes it as his own (thinking it's the work of the fairies). This is when directorial magic happens:

Up until now, the baby was this little bundle in purple cloth. As the shepherd begins to unravel the wraps, a young woman appears on stage opposite a young man. It's so clear that time passes and she ends up falling in love with this young lad. There's no text or anything. And BAM, it's intermission.

(SIDE NOTE: when the shepherd began unraveling the cloth bundle, a woman shrieked behind me. She must have though the baby was going to be flung onto the floor or something. But I wasn't fooled. I thought this was a brilliant move of sharing that this tale is far from over)

Up until now, the set has been this stark, icy blue gray. There's not much set (aside from the wall/door unit far upstage). It's cold and uncomfortable.

But then we travel to Bohemia.

This little girl (Leontes' daughter, named Perdita) is the adopted daughter of the shepherd.
She's in love with Polixenes' son, Florizel. This lad has no business loving a common country bumpkin, but he says "screw it."

Polixenes hears word of his son's recent strange behavior, disguises himself, and enters this flower/party/thing (just short of a marriage) in the heart of Bohemia. The set is full of flowers, color, strange 60s costumes, debauchery, dancing, music, and fun!

ANYWAY, through a turn of events Florizel and Perdita end up on a ship to Sicilia to escape from Polixenes (because love conquers all and everything). The shepherd remembers Perdita's royal lineage and manage to get on the same ship).

TO MAKE AN ALREADY LONG STORY LONGER:

Everyone's identity and family is unveiled. There's a whole bout of forgiveness and restoration (and a really weird statue-coming-to-life moment that I won't even begin to explain). People get married. ALL IS WELL!!

This has a weird combination of standard Shakespearean tragedy and comedy blended in one doozy of a play. It spans over 16 years.

I was really only lost a couple times. The very beginning took a while. I was really working to figure out what was going on. I'm sure this is the case with most folks. But once I got locked in with the drama, I was pretty much there the whole time. 

The Guthrie did something very clever at the beginning. Before the play even started, the company is on stage for a New Year's Eve party. People are just dancing with a kind of lounge singer. It's festive and fun and gives a great promise of a large scope. Because once the play starts, it gets rather bleak pretty quickly. Leontes is consumed with paranoia. It poisons him (love the "spider in the cup" lines).

I'd say with the exception of a few actors, everyone gave dynamic, honest performances.

I had a bit of trouble hearing at some points. Whenever actors had their back directly to me, it got a bit lost. I have (and hope) to assume that if I were a bit higher up, that wouldn't be an issue. It wasn't so bad, but I strained to hear more than once.

The set, costumes, lights, and sound were very striking and iconic even. I would say more, but I've been writing this for a long time and need to get to bed.

Overall, I really did love the production. The play is risky and unbalanced in the sense of most Shakespeare that I've ever seen. But I think this production handles it well when it's all said and done.

I WILL SAY, HOWEVER, that the statue stuff at the end was so lost on me. Hermione (apparently) dies, but then Paulina makes a statue of her. But then it comes to life. Somehow she was in hiding (I assume), but I didn't quite get the rationale behind the restored life. I'm going to have to do some more digging. I think I was so obsessed with seeing if Hermione would move while she was a statue, that essential text was gone. I totally went to a place of "how does she do that?!" because she didn't move at all (until she "came back to life"). So, maybe it's my own fault?

I am also going to look at the role of the shepherd's son for some comedic monologues. I doubt they're in verse, which is too bad because that's what most people want to hear when you use Shakespeare for auditions. But that seemed like a nice role to examine. That's a nice bonus, anyway.