By William Shakespeare
Directed by Sean Holmes
Designer – Grace Smart
Composer / MD – Laura Moody
Musician – Richard Jones
Wanamaker Playhouse & Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
Sunday 2nd April 2023, 13.00
CAST
Toby Barnett-Jones / George Robinson – Mamillus
Samuel Creasey- Young Shepherd
Ed Gaughan – Autoclycus
Colm Gormley – Antigonus / Old Shepherd
Nadine Higgin – Paulina
Beruce Khan – Camillo
John Lightbody – Polixenes
Bea Segura – Hermione
Sarah Slimani- Florizel
Sergo Vares – Leontes
Jacoba Williams – Perdita
Musicians:
Laura Moody- cello, percussion, vocal, MD
Richard Jones – viola, guitar, percussion, vocal
The Soldiers Arts Academy- The People of Bohemia
There is a strong pitch here and it’s a clever one. The tight confines of The Wanamaker Playhouse will be uptight Sicilia, the wide spaces of The Globe will be Bohemia, and the audience will shift themselves between the two. It’s not entirely new, Alan Aykbourn’s House and Garden utilised the fact that most Arts Centres have two stages and you can switch between them. New or not, it’s a brilliant idea. We were so interested in the idea that we rejoined The Globe Friends to get tickets. We have seen The Winter’s Tale before at the Wanamaker Playhouse (2016) and again at The Globe (2018) We had loved the Dominic Dromgoole and Emma Rice eras as Artistic Directors, but then we disliked everything we saw after Michelle Terry took over.
On Friday at The Bridge (Guys and Dolls) and on Saturday at the National (Romeo & Julie), we had seen five star brilliant productions. We had high hopes of this. We had a great brunch in The Swan Restaurant at The Globe and went into the Wanamaker Playhouse in the best of moods, full of anticipation. We noted the usher, as usual having to stand by the half step in the Lower Gallery shining a torch and warning people not to trip. Then there’s that precarious edge past people in the back row. As the other rows have no seat backs, we choose the back row to lean against the wall, but that absence of seat backs mean nothing to hold onto or stop you if you fall. Yet again, we ponder how misguided it was to let perceived authenticity outweigh everything else. A narrow bar behind seats should have been acceptable.
A modern green set. Surely they haven’t painted over the natural wood? That would be disastrous for future productions. Hopefully this set stands in front of it, but it looks just the same. There’s a plate glass table and modern chairs. One wonders why, given that modern setting, we are going to stick with the candle-lit idea of the Wanamaker Playhouse. (Emma Rice used electric light for modern in the Wanamaker). Later Leontes will kneel on the plate glass table. When that happens we’re glad we’re not close. We had a plate glass table like that. Someone sat on the edge and it literally exploded. We’re talking about pieces sticking in the wall. I spend those moments hoping he’ll get off the table and am distracted.
The four sit around the table … a very pregnant Hermione, Polixenes, Leontes and the son, Mammilus. Other cast members act as waiters and stand in the four corners. At co-ordinated intervals, a gong will chime and they will serve a new course of what looks like elaborate nouvelle cuisine food. Fine, it emphasizes the strict formality of Sicilia, and is well co-ordinated and sharp. When the cast place napkins on their heads to taste the first course (no one has spoken yet), my “pretentious alarm” starts to ring in my head. What’s that about?
Polixenes moves his chair closer to Hermione. The programme has an excellent article (it’s a return to quality for Globe programmes and even has a decent cover at last) on hand-paddling and the gestures deemed suitable for women. This Polixenes is very warm and friendly. It’s a fine line. They have to be happy friends, but not TOO intimate as to confirm Leontes’ paranoid suspicions. The RSC did it beautifully in 2013 by having them sharing a spliff. I thought there was enough activity here to make Leontes’ suspicion at least mildly credible.
Delivery of lines made my brow furrow. It was fast. Too fast. Bea Segura as Hermione is a notable Spanish actress (I assume that as in grammar, Spanish retains the actor / actress divide). There’s no reason her Spanish accent should be any harder to follow than any British regional accent, but somehow it is getting in the way of line rhythm or clarity for me. Leontes has some pronunciation quirks too, almost impediments on some sounds. I don’t like either performance at all. Still, I am admiring the gongs and co-ordinated waiting, and Polixenes is loud and clear. Mamillus does look related to Leontes. That’s very good, as I’ve seen too many productions (Richard III, The Winter’s Tale) where parentage is contested, and colour blind casting looks as it probably is contestable.
The music is interesting – just cello and viola, but it’s dramatic, unsettling.
Then it starts to get odd. They start shifting chairs in a musical chairs way at speed. Cheek by Jowl did that in 2017 on tour in a particularly sharp modern dress production. OK, take good ideas when they come. When Leontes tells Mamillus to play, he takes out a video game. Good laugh. Fine.
The bear appears behind the glass door staring in. This is not a funny moment. It gets a mild titter. See later …
Then Leontes in a paroxysm of jealousy strips down to undershorts and vests. Yes, this is what the insane do in stage plays, King George III did it, so clearly he’s all round raving mad rather than madly jealous.
Then Mamillus is feeling poorly and the bear (yes, the bear) appears to lead him off. Echoes of other productions where someone is led off and you know they’re going to die.
When we get to the trial of Hermione, they’re seated either end of the table, Leontes is in underwear. Instead of the nouvelle cuisine, the waiters bring on hamburgers in polystyrene containers. Leontes chews his. Hermione tears hers up. My “pretentious alarm” is becoming deafening.
Still, we make the interval. They can’t end with ‘Exit pursued by a bear” as usual because Bohemia will be outdoors. We troop out, a little bemused to be honest, but actively I’m feeling relieved to be shot of Leontes and Hermione for the next hour.
We have to move from the Wanamaker Playhouse to The Globe. We decide to eschew a wanted loo visit, because we want to get seats in the back row- the Globe is also backless benches. Then we all stand outside for over ten minutes before they open the doors. We secure two back row places. Having paid a fortune to park, overnight hotel and congestion charge, there’s no point skimping on seats and we had the most expensive in the Wanamaker, £63 each. Others were £25, but The Globe is unassigned so the extra price only bought you the Wanamaker premium seats. Karen nips out to the loo, and has to argue her way back in because now people are only being allowed to go upstairs. She gets in. The words piss up and brewery are in our minds.
The discrepancy between the very good reviews generally and reality is there for us to see. You’ll note that the photos, and press night, took place in the evening before the clocks changed. It looks good, doesn’t it?
But it’s not evening. It’s broad daylight.
The thing is, they will not be using the stage. They have set up in the pit, See the low row of builder’s pallets? The basic problem with the concept dawns on us and it’s a major negative. The Globe has seating for 1,421, and can near double that with standing in the pit. The capacity of the Wanamaker Playhouse is 340. So there are 340 of us (it was full) in an area so very much larger, with a huge empty stage behind the playing area and empty sides. In cold daylight it looks empty and bleak. That’s why they took all the production photos at night.
The reason that The Winter’s Tale is a problem play, is that switch between formal uptight Sicilia as a tragedy, and Bohemia as a rustic raucous comedy. The two are always hard to marry up. I should have ‘confusing’ pre-set for reviews of The Winter’s Tale. So many productions become chaotic here. (The RSC 2013 and the Branagh production were the best I’ve seen).
They’re going to add ‘The People of Bohemia’ played by members of The Soldiers Arts Academy to try to fill the space and add energy and atmosphere. Another good idea in the concept.
Colm Gormley is doubling Antigonus and The Old Shepherd (and to us is the most accomplished and experienced member of the cast). They do this with a clever piece of stagecraft. Antigonus leaves the baby and treasure and is pursued by the Bear all over the stage and into the back stage areas. At some point they switch him, so as Antigonus is apparently dragged off screaming through the main balconies (or rather someone in the same costume is), the old Shepherd is able to walk straight on into the pit. Samuel Creasey plays the Young Shepherd, and judging by the curtain call, also the Bear, but he gets changed fast too. I like the fact that they have identical hairstyle wigs, Old Shepherd in grey, young shepherd in blonde. I feel sorry for someone trying to act on a sea of concrete with nothing but bare areas beyond.
Then we have Autolycus, played by Ed Gaughan. I’ve had my say on Shakespeare’s clowns in many reviews. A lot of the original text is no longer funny because we don’t get the word plays any more, and because undoubtedly they were full of contemporary references and ad-libbing to fit the actual day they were performed on. The texts we have are snapshots of the day someone wrote them down – or the template the actor could improvise around. I think it was Mark Rylance who said it’s inconceivable that the top comedians of the day followed the script word for word. Accomplished Shakespeare clowns know this, but they also know how much to ad lib, and how much to stick to the script. Colm Gormley as the Old Shepherd knows the difference too … the funniest line of the day for me was when he referred to his sheep, Brittany and Beyoncé.
Ed Gaughan is giving us a paraphrase synopsis of the part, but I’d say the deviation from the text is at least 90%. It’s also fast. He’s a writer, actor, and comedian. Comedian comes first. He’s inventive … he gets in two references to passing aeroplanes (a Globe problem, though helicopters coming to look down at the acton are worse), gets a Boris reference in on telling lies (always an easy laugh) and imagines Polixenes chilling to Steely Dan on his way to Sicilia. He’s funny, the Whoop song (accompanied by Laura Moody and Richard Jones) is good interactive stuff, but he’s so far away from the script that virtually nothing of the original is left. The trouble is that the interjections of new stuff cease to cause surprise and laughter when it’s all new. His projection is that of a man used to a microphone to add to the problem. He hasn’t got one. His background include’s Filter’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (which was also directed by Sean Holmes). We saw it twice. It had a LOT of script deviation, but even so, not as much as Autocylus here.
The ‘People of Bohemia’ add vigour, but I thought they were fast losing Shakespeare’s plot. Polixenes and Camillo are a welcome addition of clarity. Camilo (Beruce Khan) does some excellent comedy stuff in support.
Then Florizel is acted by a woman, but played as a man. I thought Sarah Slimani as Florizel had one of the better projection and delivery of the day, and acts a male well, but she is very clearly female. It’s annoying box ticking. In the past I’ver seen the Shepherds and Autocylus played by women (as women) and it was fine, no problem. But Florizel is a definitely male role.
Jacoba Williams was Perdita, and looked and sounded good in her flouncy fuschia frock, but now our rustic accents … Irish, Welsh and now light Brummy don’t hold the concept of a country village together.
DON”T DRINK THE KOOL-AID!
Perdita serves everyone a drink in metal mugs and everybody falls flat out on the stage, writhe a bit, then lie still. Magic mushrooms? Ergot on rye poisoning? Who knows? The People of Bohemia are dancing around in sheep heads later. I’m losing what’s left of the plot.
The musicians, Laura Moody and Richard Jones, are now strong and costumed cast members. They’re using guitar and what looks like something sized between a viola and a cello, and strummed like a guitar. Ed Gaughan plays guitar too. Then we have a strange psych-folk song, sung by Laura Moody with percussion on blocks of wood. It’s weird, more The Wicker Man than The Winter’s Tale, but nevertheless the best thing in Bohemia. Too many diverse ideas are chasing each other around the stage, the comedy is trying much too hard (maybe they have too many comic talents on the same stage, unbalancing it), it’s chaotic and unfocussed even when the ideas are good, and not much Shakespeare survives.
We are told to return to Sicilia for the final act. My companion is by now actively angry about the mangling of plot, the abandoning of Shakespeare’s language and the general scruffy chaos. There a few empty places, but that will happen at the Wanamaker if the Second Coming takes place there because it is SO uncomfortable. We’ve seen post-interval spaces in the very best stuff we’ve seen there.
Leontes is still sitting there in his underpants staring at a worn projected slide of Hermione. So they have electricity, but five or six candles still have to suffice for lighting. Nadine Higgin adds some vocal quality as Paulina, though a couple of candles are not enough to see facial expressions on Afro-Caribbean actors. Then we get Autocylus to tell us the plot of what happened when Perdita and Florizel arrived in Sicilia. (The two shepherds are a welcome interlude). However, Ed Gaughan plays it entirely for laughs and makes up the words. Note that this scene has been lit for the production photo. There was nowhere near this much light when we saw it.
The ending should be touching. It can be. The Wanamaker Playhouse is made for it. We know The Winter’s Tale is a private theatre indoor play. The inner stage is perfect for the statue revelation, just as it would have been in 1611. That’s what they did in the Wanamaker 2016 production. (see link). Well, that production was superior in every way. So, why on Earth did they do the statue out on the thrust stage, in the middle with Hermione’s back to the audience and just four candles on the ground and one in Paulina’s hand to light it? It was appalling. It killed the scene. Perdita was wearing the same dress as Hermione in Act One, but no one seemed to notice. I know they had painted statues in the 16th and 17th centuries, but in 2016 they dressed Hermione in white which looks better. It was a completely non-affecting ending. The last Act was the worst in the production (from what I could see through the murk).
THE BEAR
The Bear’s appearance in the background in the Sicilia scenes breaks a cardinal rule, which we discussed in Drama seminars way back in 1967 and which I’ve heard Nicholas Hyntner repeat. When you direct Shakespeare (or any play) it should work for someone seeing it for the first time, who has not studied the text.
I’d bend the rule on Henry IV, Henry VI, Richard II in that you do need a brief synopsis of the history (for me Henry V, Richard III work as they are), but the Globe and RSC both do that very well in their programmes. In general, you might have the little in-joke for those who know the play, but overall it should make sense to a first time viewer. The bear is an in-joke too far. “Exit pursued by a bear” is Shakespeare’s best known direction, but it appears as the beginning of the Bohemia sequence. For the first time viewer, the hovering bear would be totally perplexing and it undermines a serious scene for a cheap laugh. Add a confused Bohemia and a garbled paraphrase of the reported plot by Autocylus in Act 5 and I’d say this version will not work for a first time viewer. That’s the unforgivable direction fault for any theatre, but even more so for The Globe which was designed to have popular appeal. Let’s add Autocylus’ paraphrases. Perhaps not at this production (it was hard to get tickets) but in the summer many foreign visitors are at The Globe. Some will have studied the play. They will not understand Autocylus at all. ‘I mugged that,’ meaning ‘I saw it’ is not something non-British people are going to understand.
OVERALL
Shakespeare’s had a battering recently with a dreadful Julius Caesar at the RSC a week ago, and now a confused and at times pretentious The Winter’s Tale at The Globe. I thought Julius Caesar one of the worst Shakespeare I’ve seen. My companion (who did the play for A level) thought this even worse. I won’t go that far. For starters, I remember the worst The Winter’s Tale ever at the Nuffield, Southampton in the 1970s. This had ambition and ideas, but they fell flat. An overwhelming issue is watching in full daylight compared to press night in the dark with lighting. The photos are in the dark in the Globe, and re-lit in the Wanamaker. It wasn’t like this on our Sunday afternoon. Another is that I can’t see many of these actors getting cast for a place in this weekend’s two five star productions at The Bridge and the National Theatre.
Forgive a long football analogy. As I write in 2023, The Bridge Theatre and the Chichester Festival are theatre’s Manchester City and Arsenal, vying for top place and a clear ten points ahead of the rest in the Premier League. The National Theatre is Manchester United and liable to occasional slip ups as well as brilliance. The RSC is Liverpool, dominant for years, a great favourite for me, but just last week falling to an unprecedented 4-0 thrashing. They will recover, having just recruited Chichester’s manager. The Globe? It’s one of the teams in the lower half of the Championship (Sunderland? Wigan? QPR?) , remembering past glories in the Premier League but increasingly looking as if a drop down to Division One is a possibility. A new manager is seriously needed. To think, they used to have Emma Rice and she’s now off managing Newcastle.
In the end. Go at night. Don’t do a matinee.
** (my companion is *)
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
five star
The Telegraph *****
Debbie Gilpin, Broadway World *****
Four star
Anya Ryan, Time Out ****
The Daily Mail ****
Michel Bennett, The Upcoming ****
three star
Alice Saville, The Independent ***
Dominic Maxwell, The Times ***
Two star
Kate Wyver, The Guardian **
Dave Fargnoli, The Stage **
LINKS ON THIS BLOG
THE WINTER’S TALE
- The Winter’s Tale – RSC 2013
- The Winter’s Tale – Branagh, Kenneth Branagh Company, 2015
- The Winter’s Tale – Wanamaker Playhouse, 2016
- The Winter’s Tale – Cheek by Jowl on tour, Bath 2017
- The Winter’s Tale – Globe 2018
- The Winter’s Tale, RSC on BBC4, 2021
SEAN HOLMES (DIRECTOR)
Twelfth Night, Globe 2021 & broadcast
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Globe 2019
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Filter 2011
COLM GORMLEY
The Winter’s Tale, RSC 2021 (Antigonus) … the same role
The Taming of The Shrew, Globe 2016
The Country Girls, Chichester Minerva Theatre 2017
NADINE HIGGIN
Twelfth Night, Globe 2021 & broadcast (Toby Belch)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Globe 2019 (Quince, Egeus)
BERUCE KHAN
Twelfth Night, RSC 2017 (Feste)
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