Shakespeare’s ‘problem’ play surprises
The Winter’s Tale
(out of 4) Written by William Shakespeare. Adapted by Sarah Kitz and Andrew Joseph Richardson. Directed by Kitz. Until Sept. 2 at Withrow Park, 725 Logan Ave. shakespeareintheruff.com
You can usually rely on Shakespeare in the Ruff’s annual outdoor production of a Shakespeare classic to ruffle feathers.
Over the past few years, the young company has shown a rebellious streak with a samesex romance in Romeo and Ju
liet, a puppet-based Macbeth and an overhaul of Julius Cae
sar from the female characters’ perspectives (which we named one of our favourite shows from 2018).
This year’s The Winter’s Tale at first appears to be one of the more straightforward shows in Ruff’s repertoire. This play features some of the most puzzling elements in Shakespeare’s canon, including supernatural forces in an otherwise realistic world, the infamous stage direction “Exit, pursued by a bear” and an abrupt switch in tone that qualifies it as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays.”
Despite first impressions, Shakespeare in the Ruff has stayed true to its troublemaker instincts in more subtle ways.
We begin in Sicilia, in the court of King Leontes (Richard Lee), who is hosting his friend King Polixenes of Bohemia (Jason Gray) and becomes jealous when his queen, Hermione (Tiffany Martin), has an exceptionally easy time convincing Polixenes to extend his visit, convinced they’re having an affair.
The fury of his misplaced paranoia destroys life at the palace. His longtime aide Camillo (Kaitlyn Riordan) escapes with Polixenes instead of poisoning him, as instructed; Hermione gives birth prematurely while imprisoned from the stress; their son Mamilius (Eponine Lee) dies from heartbreak and Hermione quickly follows.
Servants Paulina (Jani Lauzon) and her husband Antigonus (Giovanni Spina) save the new baby by bringing her to Bohemia, where she’s discovered by shepherds and raised as the poor Perdita (Andrea Carter), who later falls in love with the prince of Bohemia, Florizel (Spina), to the angry disapproval of Polixenes.
The lovers escape, back to Sicilia, where all parties converge for a joyous reunion with a surprise ending (if you can still spoil a 500-year-old play, spoilers below).
In Sarah Kitz’s vision, Mamilius becomes a central figure — typically he disappears from the narrative after he dies, but Kitz uses him as a narrator, giving the 12-year-old Eponine (an adorable new face to outdoor Shakespeare, acting alongside her dad Richard) chances to remind the audience of the casualties of unchecked powerful men.
“Don’t look at me like innocence, I am the Bear, I am Fate, I am Time,” Eponine says in a new speech written by Kitz to open the second act.
This speech also introduces two concepts of time: “manmade” time that “exists to say where your property is in space and when you can expect it to arrive”; and “deep” time, “a circle and an instant, not a line,” underscoring how both male kings are brought down by their strict expectations of property, inheritance and lineage, which fundamentally informs Kitz’s approach to this story.
She imagines the female characters’ relationship to time, growth and history as far more complex, seen most clearly in her biggest intervention in the story.
The play’s climax takes place when both royal families — Leontes reunited with his lost daughter and Polixenes finally accepting his son’s match — view a statue of Queen Hermione; as Leontes regrets the behaviour that led to her death, the statue comes to life.
But Kitz substitutes new text to change Hermione’s experience of the past16 years; instead of idly waiting for her family to reassemble, she’s taken a much more active role in exploring the world and articulating Kitz’s theme of patriarchal corruption: “I lost my softness; there was no place for my softness, I became stone,” she says.
As a result, Kitz addresses the play’s confusing mix of tragedy and comedy by giving its serious moments a more specific message. In practice, the cast feels far more at home in the jovial land of Bohemia, a highlight being the clownish duo of Lee and Lauzon as father and son shepherds.
Lee, in particular, has a natural ease with his comedic character that’s missing in his Leontes, who exudes a forced level of anger, and is physically tight and uncomfortable. Walker also has an easier time with the Bohemian pickpocket Autolycus than the sweet-turnedstoic Hermione, which dulls the play’s climax.
Though uneven, The Winter’s Tale bolsters Shakespeare in the Ruff’s reputation for taking the world’s most famous plays and making them surprising again, even when they seem straightforward on the surface.