THE
WINTER'S TALE
Romford
Summer Theatre at Raphael Park
22.06.12
for Remote Goat
For
Shakespeare and his contemporaries, a "winter's tale" was a
story of spooks and goblins, best told around a roaring fire.
As
the Romford wind whipped up from the lake, rustling the shrubbery and
snatching the words from the actors' mouths, I dreamed wistfully of
that Tudor hearth.
This
Winter's
Tale
was
the
51st
production
for
the
RST;
it
was
an
introduction
to
Shakespeare,
and
to
acting
al
fresco,
for
some
of
the
large
cast.
Must
have
been
chilly
for
them,
too,
and
picking
up
cues
was
clearly
a
problem.
There
seemed
to
be
a
feast
toward
in
the
musicians'
tent,
but
their
lovely
music
was
too
often
stolen
by
"each
wind
that
blows".
But
the show, directed by Wendi Sheard, is an assured, dynamic telling of
this often dark comedy, helped by the atmospheric sylvan setting –
comparable with Regent's Park, I thought – "where God paints
the scenery", as the old song goes. [One bonus is that we can
see background action, almost off-stage.] And immeasurably enhanced
by bold, nuanced performances in the key roles.
Victoria
Abery is a radiantly smiling Hermione at the start, excellent in the
courtroom, convincing even as the statue, in a gorgeous gown. Her
advocate, Paulina, is beautifully characterized by Lorraine Ely; her
jealous king, Leontes [Simon Drake], who "too much believes his
own suspicions", is resplendent in brown and gold, confident,
and always clearly audible in his soliloquies. And moving, when, a
broken man, he collapses like a child on the rockery steps. His
"brother" Bohemia is a blunt Rob Morley.
The
young lovers, in the sunnier second half, are Jake Portsmouth,
speaking the verse very persuasively, with Melany Dantes-Mortimer as
his pretty Perdita.
Amongst
the score or so other characters, mention must be made of Roy Hobson
as the cupbearer Camillo, Morgan Simmonds as the "gallant
child", Nick Lupton as a cheeky wide-boy Autolycus, and Jim
Rimell's entertaining double as a fantastical Father Time, with his
hourglass, and a voluble Steward, surely some kin of Malvolio. The
lighter people – a pair of fleece-clad clownish shepherds – are
cleverly contrasted: David Lintin's rustic father and Solomon Akano's
streetwise son.
By
the time Leontes found the painted statue "warm", we were
so frozen as to be almost past caring, but we sat stoically till the
curtain call, the whole cast, almost outnumbering the audience,
stretched across the Raphael Park rockery, with a witty final nod to
the famous Bear, fatal pursuer of John Lester's Antigonus.
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