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Tavern takes on ‘Winter’s Tale’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW: “The Winter’s Tale.â€? Through Dec. 6.
William Shakespeare's late romance "The Winter's Tale� is most famous for the Monty Python-like stage direction "He exits, pursued by a bear.�
That man-eating bear is just one of the difficulties of putting on this rarely produced shaggy monster, which also includes a king’s dizzying shifts from suspicion to evil to remorse, and a statue that comes suddenly to life.
Nevertheless, the New American Shakespeare Tavern delivers a big plum cake of a production, stuffed with magic, fantasy, comedy and heartbreak. The play is really two in one, beginning with Shakespeare’s familiar tragic themes of jealousy, paranoia and royal authority, then shifting to a pastoral world of rustic shepherds and young lovers.
As King Leontes, an Othellian figure who acts as his own Iago, Maurice Ralston carries off convincingly the crucial moment when Leontes falsely accuses his queen, Hermione, of an adulterous relationship with Polixenes (Troy Willis), the visiting king of Bohemia. But when Leontes returns in the last act after a long absence, Ralston's laconic delivery hampers the emotional fulfillment of the final reconciliation.
As Hermione, Laura Cole ably travels from despair to resurrection. Sent to prison (where she delivers a baby) in the first act, she aches in her desolation, evoking Ophelia, Cordelia and Desdemona. In the play’s final moments, she magically portrays the statue that slowly returns to life, healing and restoring her family.
Heidi Cline exudes strength as the outspoken Paulina, who accuses and nettles Leontes to the point of insubordination. Alternately deferential, outspoken, comic and grieving, Paulina may be “Winter’s Tale’sâ€? most complex character.
At midpoint, the play abruptly swerves from Leontes’ sorrow-drenched court in Sicilia to the pastoral world of Bohemia, where Jeff McKerley's sensitively calibrated servant Antigonus takes Perdita, the infant daughter of Hermione and Leontes. Leontes, wrongly convinced that the baby belongs to Polixenes, has ordered that she be left in the wilderness. Antigonus is chased and eaten by the bear in a scene that cannot be anything but crude slapstick to modern audiences. Tony Brown's bear strikes the right note of scariness and absurdity.
The infant Perdita is found and raised by two shepherds (Marc McPherson and Kirk Harris Seaman). After the passage of 16 years, Perdita, winningly played by Amee Vyas, falls in love with Florizel (Matthew Felten), the son of Polixenes, and they flee to Sicilia, eventually finding happiness. In a visually exciting scene, Vyas glows as the queen of a sheep-shearing festival, festooning flowers upon male celebrants and taunting them with sexual innuendo.
McKerley, after his first character has become a bear’s picnic, bounces back to portray Autolycus, one of Shakespeare’s most vital rogues. McKerley imbues the pickpocket, ballad singer and peddler with broad comic gusto, although his physical stunts and vocal mannerisms can push too far.
Director Jeff Watkins makes full use of the opening allowed by Shakespeare’s simple, one-sentence directions for shepherd and satyr dances. Accompanied by period string instruments, the company leaps into rural-accented dances, choreographed by McKerley.
Although “The Winter’s Taleâ€? is loaded with theatrical problems, the Tavern’s veteran ensemble keeps its strange multicolor dream world spinning, not crashing.
THE VERDICT: A tale of wonders to warm chilly nights.
7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Through Dec. 5. $19.50-$24.50. New American Shakespeare Tavern, 499 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-874-5299, www.shakespearetavern .com.
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By Julian Bene
November 26, 2004 5:27 PM | Link to this
I heartily endorse the reviewer’s verdict. Don’t miss this winter’s treat.
Winter’s Tale has been one of my favorites ever since I studied it as a high-school senior in England and saw Judi Dench play Hermione at the RSC. Unlike some of the rarely-staged Shakespeares, this play works beautifully when handled well, and the Tavern pulls it off with great aplomb. It’s a powerful tragedy in the first movement, with Maurice Ralston at the top of his form playing the deluded tyrant and Laura Cole doing a superb job as the wronged wife and queen. Then the Arcadian movement gives Jeff McKerley full scope for comic antics - Autolycus, the pickpocket, is the most appealing rogue Shakespeare invented. The final movement, redemption, is the mellowest thing in late Shakespeare, and so what if we are required to suspend disbelief? - it’s worth it. Laura Cole’s very well-written synopsis will be handy for everyone who is unfamiliar with the play, though the plot is pretty easy to follow.
This production shows off the company’s fantastic professionalism. To be able to jump into a challenging play like Winter’s Tale after acting in three other Shakespeares last month is quite remarkable. How the lead actors memorize all those lines is totally beyond me, never mind how they develop convincing characters of such depth in so short a rehearsal time. Jeff Watkins deploys a strong cast to great advantage in a production of which the company can be very proud.