The Winters Tale - William Shakespeare

‘The Winter’s Tale’, by the ever-famous William Shakespeare was this year’s chosen play for Murdoch University’s Theatre and Drama students enrolled in the Shakespeare unit, directed by Jenny de Reuck. The difficulty in adapting this play came with its double-genre approach, the first half being a tragedy, and the second half a comedy. The highlights of this show come in the brilliant aesthetics, well-paced musicality and the overall, strong acting. As someone coming to watch this show, I tried as hard as possible to suspend all expectations. The production of ‘As You Like It’ by the same unit a year ago was possibly one of my least favourite shows of all time – due to its length, confusing Bollywood dance number (which had no relevance), addition of unnecessary characters due to not having enough roles and the general flow of the show. However, if that was one of the worst shows I have seen, this adaptation of The Winter’s Tale was one of the best shows I have seen. (Although of course, they are completely separate entities). This was the first time encountering this text, and I have since read some synopses to assist in my recollection of the plot. (Although the play conveyed it very well). SYNOPSIS King Leontes of Sicilia has his childhood friend over, King Polixenes of Bohemia. Suspecting that his own pregnant wife, Queen Hermione is being unfaithful with King Polixenes, he orders Camilla (a woman in this adaptation), to poison Polixenes. Camilla warns Polixenes of the plot, and they flee together to Bohemia. Meanwhile, King Leontes’ rage and jealousy cause him to throw his wife in prison, order his baby daughter (just born), to be abandoned in the middle of nowhere, and to defy the truth (that Hermione was faithful), spoken out by an Oracle’s divinations. Having defied the Gods and exhibited clear madness, his sick son, Mamillius tragically dies, along with Hermione. Antigone (a woman in this adaptation, normally Antigonus, and instead sister to Paulina, rather than married to her), abandons the daughter of Hermione, leaving with her the name ‘Perdita’ and some small fortune (after receiving a dream from Hermione which begged her to do so). Antigone is killed by a bear. The baby, Perdita is adopted by a Shepherd who stumbles upon her. Having realised his madness, and been told by the Oracle’s divination that he will not have an heir until he finds his lost daughter, King Leontes sets about redeeming himself (under the fierce help of Paulina). Intermission. Following all of the tragedy of the first half, sixteen years pass. Some comedy ensues with the rogue, Autolycus. Florizel, Polixines’ son is smitten with the now grown-up Perdita. Polixines goes undercover to a sheep-shearing festival and discovers his son almost marrying the lower-status, Perdita. Anger ensues, and Camilla convinces the young couple to go to Sicilia where they can share their love. Florizel pretends to be on a diplomatic mission for his father, and meets with King Leontes. Polixines arrives to unmask his son’s betrayal. However, the next events are all told via narration – Perdita’s relation to Leontes is unveiled, thereby making the relationship between Perdita and Florizel appropriate, and then in the final scene, they are brought to a painting/statue of Hermione. It then ‘comes to life’, and it is apparent that Paulina has kept Hermione in secret all those years, and she did not actually die. All is well. (Except Mamillius had still died, as well as Antigone, and Autolycus the rogue seemed to not suffer any consequences for his thieving shenanigans). ACTING I make it a priority to try and talk about every actor, since these are students often looking for critical feedback. For the most part, the acting was all really strong. The main criticism amongst most of the actors would have been the projection. Starting with King Leontes is logical, although not the best example to start from. Joel Sammels had a large part to play – indeed; Leontes has many monologues and some of the biggest moments on stage. Joel had a habit of wandering too much with his feet (although possibly added to the ‘insanity’ of Leontes, but often came off as a nervous habit more than that), and would have been more powerful had he learnt to plant his feet in one location and evoke a large stature with his character. Whilst he seemed to have a decent grasp of the language, and what he was saying, he often did not seem to portray it in any interesting ways through his nonverbals. A friend I attended the play with commented that she ‘felt that he should have been grabbing other characters at times, but he did not’. This of course, in some ways, compliments the emotional intensity that he gave. I sometimes found that he lacked appropriate diction in his speaking that made it difficult to understand him at times. Joel had a huge role to face, and he seemed to understand the character, he just did not necessarily ‘show’ the character all of the time. In some ways, he lacked the power and stage presence that the character required. Queen Hermione, played by Amy Murray had a wonderful projection, understanding of her lines and stage presence. Her shift from virtuous Queen performing her duties in grace to the innocent accused was wonderfully characterised. When Hermione is ‘resurrected’ at the ending, I found Amy’s nonverbals whilst remaining silent to be incredibly moving. Even standing still portrait/statue-like, she had a great presence. Abbey McCaughan as Mamillius was a convincing boy, and was able to provide a big character whilst being in a wheelchair (through her verbals and gestures). Abbey later played the shepherd’s daughter (I think is named the Clown in the original text), and had wonderful character movement and posture, making for a hilarious scene with Autolycus and a noticeably energetic character in her own right. Camilla, played by Rhianna Hall had a wonderful grace and maturity about her, and you honestly believed that she was the honest woman that the play requires her to be. I sometimes found there to be a confusing relationship between her and Polixines – perhaps symptomatic of making Camilla a woman. I found myself shifting between the suspicion that they were partners-in-business (in running a kingdom), or secret lovers. Antigone, played by Melissa Merchant played a convincing dutifully bound noblewoman. The tension between Antigone and Paulina was believable when Paulina wished to approach Leontes. Changing Antigonus to a woman did not seem problematic, although perhaps made it less believable that Antigone would abandon the baby, Perdita. Of course, any analysis of this is cut short by Antigone being killed by a bear off stage. Overall, a wonderful performance by Melissa. Sam Knox, was in my opinion, one of the most powerfully stage present actors of the show. Playing Paulina, she brought to this woman a great power and an absolute insistence on moral righteousness. When Paulina was angry, you believed it. There was a moment where she shouted at Leontes when he is consumed by his tyrannical jealousy, and she absolutely brought me to my senses, and commanded the attention of the whole audience. In contrast to Sam’s power, Joel lacked the stage presence to truly compete, and I often felt like Paulina could just overthrow the kingdom. Sam demonstrated a great knowledge of her lines, and her subtle nonverbals and facial expressions always aided this. She also knew how to react – she understood other characters so well, and by looking at Sam (and indeed, her stage presence often demanded this, even if she was in the background), you could understand the emotional complexities of the scene just in her facial reactions. In the second half, Sam played a minor revelrous maid in the background of the sheep shearing festival, and she performed an absolutely hilarious routine with apples, alongside Melissa. I dislike boasting so much about one actress (because it seems unfair to all the others), but I honestly think Sam stole the show (In the best way possible). Sarah Courtis performed well as Cleomenes, although the character did not have much stage time. Sarah’s dancing alongside Time (although a feather off of her costume falling off, and missing catching a cane – which both made it comedic), was enjoyable. Tiffany Wendt played convincing characters, as Emilia, and later as a Mariner and a background maid, however she possessed a very soft voice, and I think audience members at the back of the auditorium would have struggled to hear her. Selena Nemeth, as Mamillius’ carer, a servant and a festival maid was stellar, but it is difficult to say more or less due to lack of stagetime. I did, however, enjoy the subtle relationship between her and Mamillius. Polixines, played by Andrew Dawson, possessed the presence and the nonverbals. I enjoyed his performance, although it sometimes seemed like he did not know his lines very well – or if he did, it seemed like he did not fully grasp their meaning. This often brought him down, although he was solid enough as a character, I just do not feel that he gave the character enough conviction. Simon Meiri as Florizel performed wonderfully with nonverbals and movement – he was very flighty and energetic, and seemed to contain it well. His ‘doting’ lover character was fierce enough. I felt that his verbals could have been improved, he did not seem to bring much other than consistency. Daley King played several minor roles, including Archidamus, a background festival character (he looked like a town drunkard), and a ‘narrator-type’ character with Time later on. Daley was fierce and convincing – as Archidamus, he brought attention only when it was required of him, making him aptly subservient to Leontes. When playing the background sheep festival character, he was entertaining simply with his gestures in the background. Very minor characters, but very memorable. I had hoped for a little more from Perdita. Samantha Robins seemed very passive as an actress; her projection was a little weak, her character not very noticeable, and although her emotion seemed genuine, it was ill-conveyed and seemed a little unenthusiastic. The character admittedly seems to be more plot-oriented than rounded, but could have been much ‘bigger’. Jordan Holloway was absolutely hilarious as Autolycus. His movement, his voice, his presence, his dedication. For me, he played the perfect trickster. The scene between him and Abbey (as the shepherd’s daughter), where he pick pockets her and steals half of her outfit was one of the great highlights of the show. Jordan also played a servant role earlier in the show, and a narrator-type character (along with Daley and the character, Time). Both were very stellar, and much different characters to Autolycus. A word of caution for Jordan, however, is that he must be careful of his surroundings and not get too consumed by his character. Two times exiting the stage: he ran into the scrim and almost into a wall. Andrew Kocsis played a hilariously accented Shepherd, as well as the Gaoler at the beginning of the play. Andrew is a great performer. The final character/actress to talk about is Time. This character normally only has a scene in the middle of the play, explaining that sixteen years have passed. The director made a choice to add Time in as a permanent narrator. Ellin Sears played Time, and incorporated tap-dancing and singing into the role. Sometimes this would summarise plot occurrences between scenes, or just break up the tragedy/pace of the play with some singing/dancing. Ellin Sears was a wonderful performer in her own right, although I had some frustrations with the emphasis of this character in the play. AESTHETICS The set, costumes and sound were all so wonderful – part of what made the play such a good show. I have seen sets by Allison Bell previously, and yet again she is so successful with her attention to detail and emphasis on colour. The set was simplistic, although great complex detail was put into the painting. The back of the stage featured ramps for character’s entrances, with some two-dimensional pillars/arches that could be flown in and out. The floor of the back had colours that reminded me of Autumn or possibly Spring, and the front half was white – reminding me of winter, along with blue along the outskirts. On one side, a painting of a woman with the word ‘tragedy’, in blue (one of the main colours used in the set), and another painting of a woman with the word ‘comedy’, in orange (the other main colour). The set was effective, and along with the lighting allowed a great shift between Bohemia and Sicilia without much of a set change – only the addition or removal of chairs was necessary. In the first half, the mood (conveyed through the music and lighting), and colours all worked together to create the tragedy, and later, all warmed up to bring out the comedy. All of these aspects seemed to compliment one another very well, and more importantly complimented the show. My only criticism is for the sound – and that is for the preset/intermission music, which felt a little annoying and repetitive. All of the costumes, hair and make-up were absolutely stunning. Every character felt unique and so much attention was given to each character’s aesthetic. Kudos to a hard-working costume and hair/make-up team. OMISSION/EMPHASIS Despite how much I enjoyed the show, I did feel that it was perhaps a little too lengthy. And I don’t think it needed to be as long as it was, considering it was an adapted version, and had some of the acts apparently quite cut down. I felt that while the performances of Time were good, they were unnecessary except when introducing the play at the beginning, the passing of time, and later when the plot occurrences before the final scene are explained. The omission of many of the song and dance numbers would have made the show flow much faster, and they did not seem that integral to the show. In the director’s note, Jenny wrote that the dance and song ‘allows audiences moments of relief from the intensity of the action…’ – However, I felt that the intensity was not that tragic, or possibly not tragic enough for modern audiences. This is Shakespeare, not Sarah Kane. That being said, some of the songs were entertaining enough, I am just not a huge fan of lengthy plays. CONCLUSION Overall, I really enjoyed The Winter’s Tale. I have a love/hate relationship with Shakespeare productions – because I have seen so many bad productions. I am so very glad that this is on my list of great Shakespearean productions. When I look at ‘The Winter’s Tale’ in the future, I will always think fondly of the beautiful aesthetics of this show, along with the mix of powerful and subtle characters that this adaptation brought. The bitterness and jealousy of a mad tyrant is brought to his knees when the Gods themselves shatter his resolve. Surrounding him, virtue, honesty and truth triumph over him – and in the end, it is youthful love that renews the hearts of sixteen winters of woe.