EXIT, PURSUED BY A PRODUCTION
In taking on a production of William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Play On Shakespeare at Skylight Theatre is to be commended. The last of the Bard’s plays-–Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, portions of Pericles, and The Tempest—present substantial difficulties in staging. But, for my money, The Winter’s Tale sits at the top of that list.
First, it is actually two plays, completely dissimilar in tone and presentation; it opens King Lear and closes All’s Well That Ends Well, it has in Leontes one of the vilest and most impenetrable of Shakespeare’s royals and arguably his most humorous rogue in Autolycus, it is notorious for mistakes within the text (the landlocked Bohemia had no seacoast, the Delphi Oracle was not on a island), and boasts the most renowned stage direction in theatre history: “Exit, pursued by a bear.”
Iman Nazemzadeh
It’s been called the most problematic of Shakespeare’s “Problem Plays,” and since it starts with a slaughter of the innocent and concludes with “happily ever after” you can get an idea why that is.
Leontes, the Sicilian King and his very pregnant Queen Hermione (Daniel De Young and Spencer Jamison) are entertaining Polixenes, King of Bohemia and childhood friend of Leontes (Iman Nazemzadeh).
When Polixenes announces he must return to his kingdom, Leontes implores him to stay but to no avail. Leontes entreats his wife to ask Polixenes to delay his departure and when he yields to Hermione’s appeal, this is enough to convince Leontes that his virtuous wife and beloved friend are having an affair.
Iman Nazemzadeh, Spencer Jamison, Daniel DeYoung
Comparisons here to Othello are understandable, but inaccurate. The Moor was gradually deceived into believing his wife unfaithful by the cunning Iago. Leontes, like Lear, has no one to blame but himself. Leontes conspires with his councilor Camillo (Shaan Dasani) to poison Polixenes, but the noble Camillo warns the Bohemia King and they both escape.
This betrayal serves to convince Leontes that there is a larger conspiracy against him and he has his wife thrown into the dungeon denouncing the child she carries as Polixenes’ bastard. The people, led by the noblewoman Paulina (KT Vogt) protest the queen’s innocence, resulting in Leontes sending to the Oracle at Delphos seeking to have the God Apollo confirm his suspicions.
Daniel DeYoung, Quest Sapp
Before the Sun God can respond, Hermione gives birth to a daughter. Leontes orders Paulina’s husband, Antigonus (Miguel Pérez) to carry the child into wilderness and abandon it there. After his departure the Delphos verdict arrives which declares Polixenes and Hermione innocent. In quick order, Leontes’ off-stage son dies, followed by his wife, leaving Leontes crushed by his guilt.
Meanwhile, Antigonus reaches the coast of Bohemia where he deposits the child, and after he “exits, pursued by a bear,” the discarded infant is happened upon by a kindly Shepherd (KT Vogt – again) and his dim, clownish son (Audrey Cirzan). The two of them take pity on the helpless babe and resolve to take and raise her as part of their own family.
Misha Osherovich
With that the “Lear-ish” half of The Winter’s Tale concludes, and after the “passing of sixteen years,” we find ourselves in that familiar territory of Shakespeare’s comic shenanigans populated with star crossed lovers, disguised royals, long lost children recovered, long dead love renewed and the air thick with romance.
Perdita (Misha Osherovich), the lost princess unaware of her noble lineage, is now wooed by Florizel (Israel Erron Ford) the son of Polixenes and the shepherd’s son Clown is wooed by two shepherdess Mopsa (Spencer Jamison) and Dorcas (Victoria Hoffman). Ensemble member Quest Sapp provides some tunes to keep the mood right for the revelations and reconciliations Shakespeare is ready to roll out to close the play with.
Daniel DeYoung, Quest Sapp
Play on Shakespeare makes a meritorious effort here, even if I can’t compliment them on the execution.
The show has been given a “modern verse translation” by its director Tracy Young, and adapted by Young and Lisa Wolpe, which manages in short order to touch all the needed bases, but sadly a good deal of the show’s second act fun falls victim to their trimming, along with the complete disappearance of the second-act cocky and charismatic bandit Autolycus.
Shaan Dasani, Victoria Hoffman
The roles also suffer by this condensation, especially the heroics of Paulina’s defiance of Leontes for the sake of her friend the slandered queen, but it is De Young as Leontes who is the most handicapped by this “thinning.” In the uncut script, Leontes’ transition from loving husband to jealous brute is a daunting hurdle for the best of actors. In this reduction, DeYoung seems forced to make some broad choices in bridging his beats, which take on an almost comic hue.
Overall the cast is strong, though there is a case or two of actors afflicted with “mumble mouth.” With only two exceptions all the actors are double cast. Ford and Osherovich hit their stride as the young lovers; what is curtailed in Hoffman parts by the play’s cutting she makes up for with personality; Jamison serves the role of the injured queen royally; and Cirzan is a delight as the shepherd’s son. Vogt’s performances as both the good-hearted Shepherd and the courageous Paulina makes you regret there wasn’t more of left of each role.
Quest Sapp, Audrey Cirzan, Victoria Hoffman, KT Vogt, Daniel DeYoung, Miguel Perez
The production shows the signs of a limited budget, but Christopher Scott Murillo’s set, while stark, is serviceable. C. Yuri Son’s costuming succeeds with variance (the only oddity is having the aforementioned “bear” played by an actor garbed in an outfit that only requires a honey pot to pass for Winnie-the-Pooh).
As director, Young has some solid ideas, but seems unable to integrate them, so the play’s narrative feels less than a seamless flow and more like chained links.
Victoria Hoffman, Shaan Dasani, Iman Nazemzadeh, Israel Erron Ford,
KT Vogt, Misha Osherovich, Quest Sapp, Daniel DeYoung
There have been, and no doubt will be, better productions of Shakespeare’s oh so problematic “problem play.” But if you are working your way through the bard’s canon and The Winter’s Tale is one you’ve not checked off, this staging by the Skylight Theatre Company provides a pretty good preview of what you can expect.
photos by Jason Williams
The Winter’s Tale
Play On Shakespeare
Skylight Theatre Company, 1816 ½ N. Vermont Ave
90 minutes, no intermission
plays in rep with Hide & Hide; check for dates
ends on June 14, 2025
for tickets ($20-$42), visit Skylight
for more shows, visit Theatre in LA
