The Winter's Tale

by William Shakespeare

seen at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on 9 March 2016

Michael Longhurst directs John Light (Leontes), Rachel Stirling (Hermione), Niamh Cusack (Paulina), Tia Bannon (Perdita), Steffan Donnelly (Florizel), David Yelland (Antigonus) and James Garnon (Autolycus) as part of a season of Shakespeare' four 'romance' plays.

It is interesting to compare this production with Kenneth Branagh's (reviewed in November 2015). The size and the ambience of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse make for a very different experience - the opening scenes seemed more intense, less stately, with Leontes prwoling in his jealousy far closer to this wife and friend. Meanwhile in the second half, Autolycus could interact far more directly with the audience, even purloining a pair of spectacles at one point to facilitate his 'disguise' as a courtier.

John Light's Leontes was impassioned both as his jealousy consumed him, and as he suffered remorse after his catastrophic misjudgements came home to roost. Niamh Cusack's Paulina was a force to be reckoned with, but less as a steely matriarch and more as a loyal and true-seeing courtier. But the cost of Leontes' suspicions on his wife Hermione was brutally exposed in Rachel Stirling's performance; in the trial scene she was still dressed in her dirty birthing robes, and her physical frailty was emphasised even before the crushing announcement of the young prince's death. Her proud speech of contempt for her life as it had become, contrasting with the value she placed on her honour and reputation, was finely delivered and caused even Leontes to flinch.

The rustic Bohemian scenes of the second half might have been problematic in the decorative architecture of the Playhouse, so clearly an indoor space with its symmetrical doorways and multitudes of candles. However, the enthusiasm of the cast, and the rollicking music, eased the suspension of disbelief, while the young couple who are the centre of the festivities were fresh and delightful. Yet Florizel also showed something of his father's impetuosity when crossed - Polixenes threatening horrible punishments and crushing disdain, the boy furiously determined to pursue his own path to disinheritance, and unthinkingly ready to continue deceiving people to gain his ends. 

All in all, it is amazing that the cross-purposes are untangled by the timely revelation of Perdita's identity. But the mischief making of Autolycus, sardonically played by James Garnon, leads only to good, and against all expectation Perdita receives a mother's blessing, and Leontes  may renew both his marriage and his childhood friendship. In the statue scene, the theatre comes into its own again as a place where reconciliations can be both magical and moving.