Words by Julie Petrucci @Combinations
Photographs by Paul Ashley
The Winter’s Tale spans some sixteen years and several genres. It also contains the most famous Shakespearean stage direction of all: Exit, pursued by a bear. However many times you may have seen Shakespeare’s famous play Directors Lesley Ford and David Sear’s production put a different slant on it with a heady mix of dark and light, tragedy, comedy, a bit of singing and dancing and finally redemption — with a sprinkling of snow and a huge lumbering bear!
In brief, when King Leontes becomes convinced that his wife is carrying the child of his best friend, his jealousy is quick and vicious and becomes an instrument of terrible destruction despite everyone in his kingdom trying to reason with him. Friends, family, and trusted advisors all fall victim to his blind rage before Leontes recognises his error and falls into a state of boundless remorse. Sixteen years later, his abandoned daughter unknowingly sets the stage for the redemption of all.
The minimal stage design (Master Carpenter Will Males) worked well and the special effect (Mike Rudin) when Apollo took his revenge left the audience open mouthed. There was no defined period but to my mind the costumes (Tracy James), a mix of modern with the semi-traditional, worked well. Lighting and sound design (Leah Ward and Matthew Stratford respectively) were good. The back projection for the forest in Bohemia was particularly impressive with the snow storm and the huge bear making straight for Antigonus and seemingly the audience.
The early scenes in Sicilia are pretty dark as they depict the insane jealousy of Leontes but these are balanced by the comedy as the action moves to Bohemia. David John was superb as Leontes, King of Sicilia, undergoing astonishing mood changes: from a fondly loving husband into a monstrous tyrant. An excellent interpretation of this complex character. A warm and charming performance by Annabelle Roberts as his Queen Hermione: regally played, coming into her own in the court scene where she personified honour.
An impressive and commanding performance came from Catherine Walston as Antigonus’ no-nonsense wife Paulina. There were a good many pieces of very strong acting: notably from Steve Nicholson (Polixenes King of Bohemia), Dan Aspel (Camillo), Rob Barton (Antigonus) Reece Bond (Florizell), and Kerry Hibbert (Perdita). In Bohemia we had Peter Simmons (Old Shepherd) and Christian Burton (Shepherd’s Son) playing it for all they were worth, especially when joined by that rogue Autolycus played by an on-form Will Males. Their scenes were extremely funny drawing a huge audience response. I had a slight frisson of worry that they would go ‘over the top’ but they stayed disciplined and stopped just short of pantomime!
Without exception the large cast, which included a very nice first act performance from the young Hamish Brownlie as Mamillius, all put a tremendous and believable effort into their performances and would there enough space to do so I would name them all. Suffice it to say that none were found wanting.
Leontes asks “Is this nothing?” – it definitely was not. Directors Lesley Ford and David Sear stayed true to the classic style providing a first class production with a cast which was second to none. This was an extremely enjoyable outing to the ADC for a high quality Corkscrew production making a fitting end to an eclectic and entertaining amdram year.
