Winter’s Tale Review
- Claire Doire
- Oct 30, 2018
- 4 min read
A little less than a month into my semester in London, I decided that it was about time to return to one of my favorite places on the globe… Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre *pause for laughter*
By some stroke of dramatic irony, I ended up with a ticket to see The Winter’s Tale on what was likely to be the last 70 degree day of the year. It was an absolutely perfect afternoon to be a groundling, which is what the occupants of the “pit” are called at Globe shows. Being a groundling is considered to be the more authentic, and certainly more immersive Shakespearean theatre experience. Packed in with the other audience members, leaning on the back wall, or up against the edge of the stage itself, it’s exactly how the commoners would have watched shows in Elizabethan times. In 2018, there’s a lot less heckling and and throwing things than there would have been back then, but it’s the same amount of standing. Now, if you had money, and lots of it, you could sit up with the Queen in the wooden bleachers that encircle the space--which I’ve heard aren’t much more comfortable than standing in the pit, anyway.
Once the doors swung open, I took my place in front, just one layer of people back from the stage, and only had a few minutes to chug some water and take an excited selfie to send my parents. With a dramatic bass drum roll, the show began in the kingdom of Sicilia. For those of you who weren’t in mine and President of BUSS Nadia’s 2011 Shakespeare camp production and aren’t familiar with the plot allow me to explain…
Open Google
Enter: “Plot of Winter’s Tale”
Read it, you lazy fools. If you think I’m gonna type all that shit out, you don’t know your author very well.
Moving right along.
I was first struck by the beauty of the Sicilian costumes, which even from inches away looked intricate, lavish, and authentically lived in. The royal family of Leontes, Hermione, Mamillius, and their attendants were clad in flowing romanesque robes and dresses. The first act beings joyfully while slowly descending into madness as Leontes begins to suspect his pregnant wife of cheating on him with his brother Polixines, King of Bohemia. While Leontes clearly was the favorite child (who the fuck names their kid Polixines?) he quickly becomes the least-liked characters on stage. His madness is baseless and palpable, and while this is an emotional show, I thought the actor in the role (Will Keen) went a little over the top with his movement and vocal strain and I found myself more annoyed at him than the character. However, where Leontes overacted it, the actress playing Hermione, Priyanga Burford, was thoroughly convincing. Her outrage and despair as she is sent to jail and later tried for her “crimes” were expertly portrayed.
As a whole, the women in this show were exceptionally strong and are largely to thank for the quality of the overall production. Not only were the scenes directed in such a way that showcased the resilience and rationale of the female characters, but the actresses themselves were superb. The only complaint I have about Winter’s Tale is that the first act drags a bit. This is of no fault to the Globe’s production team, it’s just the way the show is written. (Sorry, Billy Shakes). The second act, however, makes up for it.
Once all of the groundlings had ourselves a little sit-down and a snack during the interval, (and I managed to get a prime leaning spot on the front of the stage) the second half of the play lifted everyone’s spirits. Winter’s Tale is technically a comedy (wedding at the end, only a few people die), so the audience is expecting more than death and destruction and shitty male leads. The second half of Winter’s Tale delivered. The comedic elements were perfectly timed and executed, the costumes were vibrant, and the love story begins between Hermione and Leontes’ lost daughter Perdita, now a commoner, (Her name literally means “lost” in latin. Way to be meta, Bill), and Florizel, Polixines’ son, disguised as a shepherd because why should anything be straightforward in a Shakespeare show?
Autolycus’s thieving antics are welcome interludes to Florizel’s attempts to marry Perdita behind his father’s back. It’s like, supes awks because his dad is totally at the same party watching the whole thing happen.
As per most Shakespearean comedies, everything wraps up quite nicely with a few spontaneous weddings and a little magic/necromancy from Paulina…
Wait a minute. I haven’t talked about Paulina yet. How the f did I miss this?
OKAY SO HERE’S THE THING ABOUT PAULINA. She’s a caring, wise, witchy-magic weilding badass and is the ONLY person in the play who manages to put Leontes in his place (which is no small feat, the man throws one hell of a temper tantrum). The actress who played her (Sirine Saba) was bold and commanding and could seem a little much at times, but the thing is that Paulina is not supposed to be like any other character in the show. She’s supposed to be a litte different, a little more powerful, a little other-wordly. So, in my opinion, it all works, and I loved it. I kinda wish every member of the U.S. government had a Paulina on their shoulder right now, but that’s another story for another time.
Anyway, everyone ends up rich, married and happy, and newly-not-dead Hermione even forgives her crazy-ass controlling husband--at which the entire audience raised a collective eyebrow--and then the whole cast dances a jig and everyone goes home happy: characters, cast, and audience. All joking and millennial jargon aside, Shakespeare makes me infinitely happy. It’s consistently changed my life for the better over and over again. Whether you’re a skeptic or a devotee,The Globe is the place to connect with the Bard’s work. The Winter’s Tale reached out in the most accessible, fun and human way and touched my heart. Thanks again, Will. We love ya.
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