"The Winter’s Tale”

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33190, 2 April 1973, Page 18

"The Winter’s Tale”

“The Winter’s Tale,” by . Shakespeare. Directed by I Wendy de la Bere for the ' Repertory Theatre. March 31—April 7. Running time: 8 p.m. to 11.10 p.m. If “The Winter’s Tale” is) “Shakespeare’s happiest lovestory,” it is also about the: hardest to conceive in pro-! duction. It is a romance, with something of a fairy-tale, about it. and its structure; teems with difficult transi-l tions. ambivalent dramatic gestures, and awkward coincidences and juxtapositions, all of which call for an in-! [ventive and original approach. Even though the romances; have lately been enjoying un-

precedented popularity, it is a courageous choice for Repertory: as well as the jenormous production difficulties, it is a play which can ■ hardly be expected to draw school audiences in the way ithat a “Hamlet” would, and the sheer intricacy of Shakespeare's dramaturgy here means that from the first the whole production team must 'have been resigned to something significantly less than perfection. For its development, the play is activated by two emotional bottle-necks. At the start, the king of Sicily (Leontes) becomes suspicious of his wife, and triggers off a genera) emigration to Bohemia before he realises he is wrong, too late to retrieve his wife. children, and friends; towards the middle. 16 years later, everyone seems to find a reason for returning to Sicily, and there is a grand reconciliation. Needless to say, the mechanics of the play are hideous! v difficult. For the early scenes, Wendv de la Bere wisely ■ chose to put Leontes's emotions into a deeper perspective by supporting them with various bits of stage business; to begin with. I felt that some of this was only marginally relevant and that the production was taking rather long to find much sense of direction, but the religious elements were an .excellent idea, well introduced. and bringing all the resonance that is needed. Shakespeare knew that when a play is beginning toi drag, it is always a good idea to shove the characters off to a new location, preferably' one which nobody knows anything about and where,

consequently, anything can [happen; certainly, the move |to Bohemia is a powerfully invigorating force in this production. This is partly because these scenes have obviously caught the producer’s! imagination totally, and they give a captivating, full-) blooded evocation of the pastoral life.

Also, this episode introduces several new characters who are particularly welli played—notably, Imogen de j la Bere as Perdita, Peter Hur-| [ricks as Autolycus. and Richard Corballis as Florizel. In particular, Richard Corballis made very good work of, verse delivery, conspicuously! better than anyone else; the Kings (Gary Fox as Leontes and Mitchell Elder as Poli-i

xenes) could both at times! have used greater variety in; speed and tone. In secondary roles. Beryl> Macleod was impressive as; Paulina, Mary Gray handled; Hermione weil, and Graham Tetley was excellent as Anti-i gonus—it was his scene after! the Queen’s arrest that first; I built Leontes’s anger up to: fits proper proportions. The! Bohemian comics, Jack Baird and Pau] Sorrell, were both very good, and Gordon Petersen' made a charming bear, iwith all the grace, groping, and grunts of a tag wrestler. As the Cyrillic characters on the programme suggest, there is a strong Russian flavour to this production;' this is not a new idea, but it; does give scope for some excellent costuming. The reason for some of the produc- ' tion ideas will not be immediately apparent to audiences,! but the best of them are quite; I brilliant—in particular, the; procession of characters across the darkened stage; during the chorus speech! half-way through. To get this play on stage: in any presentable form is] !itself a considerable achieve-! ment; to do it with such: effective climaxes is a most commendable feat. Apart from details, my re-i servations centre on the beginning. where a more direct! and aggressive production ■ approach might have served' Leontes better, but once the! story gathered urgency, it I never lost power. H.D.McN.|

Soccer.—Crystal Palace, the London first division soccer side threatened by relegation, has; signed Mr Malcolm Allison, of; Manchester City as its new manager. on a five year contract I worth about *22.700 a year.