It’s never not going to be funny seeing something described as a ‘winter’s tale’ in the blazing sunshine. (three people next to us had to leave due to the heat) Previous productions I’ve seen have fully embraced the concept in the first act, from furs to Christmas trees, setting up for the quickly oncoming atmosphere of a chilly and austere Sicilia. Here, however, the court of Sicilia is outfitted in a creeping-towards-Turkish Mediterranean style which certainly segued with the heat, while Bohemia plumped for modern European.
This Sicilia was not austere nor chilly; at the beginning it was jovial and the marriage of Leontes and Hermione happy. However, even within this Will Keen as Leontes showed an anxiety and twitchiness in how fast he spoke and the jittering of his hands that eventually descends into the full-blown paranoia that fracture his marriage and court as he becomes consumed by it. In many ways, this first act was marked by the righteous anger of women; Hermione’s disbelief and anger at her accusation and treatment, Priyanga Burford alternating between trying to keep distress at bay when with her son and disbelieving anger at being falsely accused. Then came Sirine Saba as Paulina, a performance of such towering rage that you were in danger of being scorched by her eyes. It’s a tribute to Will Keen that he managed to give the impression that he’d been so consumed by his paranoia that not even this could affect him as all around shrank from it. As ever, part of the Globe experience is how much the audience gets caught up by the play and the society onstage; when Leontes tears up the Oracle’s edict, they gasped in shock and disbelief that he would discard something of such import.
The second half was sunbaked and scatty and joyous, everyone kitted out for Glastonbury or Reading festival and Becci Gemmell’s Autolycus charmed and bamboozled the audience and shepherds as she conned her way through life, pleasingly genderfluid as she gleefully flitted from one role to another. The young lovers were sweet and caught up in the flush of young love, with this Florizel less cynical and calculating than usual, where his love for Perdita is more an act of defiance towards his father than a diversion. Annette Badland, in her first appearance at the Globe, deserves special mention as Perdita’s adoptive parent. Although she hadn’t quite managed the projection required for the Globe, she proved her comedic talents effortlessly. Possibly the only disappointment of the show was the bear; here a banner that collapsed with a bang which completely dispensed with any sign of a physical threat that even the shabbiest bear suit conveys.
burntcopper 