A Winter’s Tale is a strange play. It is a comedy in that it ends with a wedding but the first three acts are pure psychological drama; charting King Leontes’ descent into madness and tyranny after falsely accusing his Queen, Hermione, of adultery with his best friend King Polixenes. Leontes is brought to his senses, after blaspheming against the Oracle of Delphos, but he manages a pretty impressive body count including his own son and his most faithful servant in Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction: Exit Antigonus, pursued by a bear.
The second half takes place sixteen years later in the rural idyll of Polixenes’ kingdom of Bohemia, making Winter’s Tale a popular choice for outdoor productions. The Globe is currently touring the play with a cast of ten. I saw it at Leeds Castle and the tour will conclude at Kensington Palace in the first week of September.
John Dove’s production works well on a T-shaped thrust set with a large silvery disc at its rear which draws the eye and casts a shimmering reflection onto the stage. A simple but effective lighting rig gradually takes over from the sun and the music is all provided live by the cast: Fergal McElherron’s ‘lute unplugged’ is worth the ticket price on its own.
John Dougall sets a high standard for doubling, playing both Leontes and Old Shepherd and is not let down by the rest of the company. Michael Benz is so good as the widowed Paulina that you have to remind yourself he is not a she. Impressive voice work throughout was more than a match for the occasional cries of encouragement from Leeds Castle’s onlooking peacocks.
Winter’s Tale has been dated at around 1609 and the intervening 4 centuries have not been particularly kind to some elements of the comic plot, Autolycus the pedlar in particular, but that is no fault of the Globe and the bear more than makes up for it.
