A WINTER’S TALE
FOR ALL SEASONS

Raúl Esparza anchors a spirited,
grandly theatrical production of
one of Shakespeare’s trickier plays

Let’s face it, fellas, who among us hasn’t had our best friend stay with us and our wife for a few months only to suspect maybe bestie and wife got a little too friendly?

Such a quagmire is at play in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale.

One of the later works by the Bard, it is somewhat best known for “Exit, pursued by a bear,” a certain eccentric stage direction late in the play. (No, not the kind you can meet in the West Village or Chelsea… A literal bear.)

Notable for its setting in a mythological world rather than attempting to stay rooted in 16th-century Europe, and for characters such as Time itself taking the stage, The Winter’s Tale is one of 12 or so plays by Shakespeare in which magic or other fantasy elements find their way into the story. Check out A Midsummer Night’s Dream for fairy shenanigans, or Macbeth for witchcraft if you want more fantastical Shakespearean fare. In the meantime, this patrilineal problem play remains relevant today in the personal nature of Leontes’ suspicions, and the primacy behind them.

Our play picks up in Sicily, where King Leontes (Broadway veteran Raúl Esparza) and his pregnant wife, Queen Hermione (Lily Rabe), implore Leontes’ childhood friend, King Polixenes of Bohemia (Gilbert Owuor), to stay with them a little longer. It’s already been an extended visit of nine months, and Polixenes is eager to get underway. Hermione convinces Polixenes to stay with some sweet words.

Such sweet words, however, draw the jealousy and ire of Leontes, who orders his councilman Camillo to assassinate his friend on the mere suspicion of an affair between Hermione and Polixenes.

Yeesh, and they say women are too emotional to lead.

When councilor Camillo instead warns Polixenes of Leontes’ rage and flees with the Bohemian king, things get interesting, as Leontes has no one to turn his lividity on but Hermione. The king separates Hermione and their son, Mamillius, while he investigates the paternity of his unborn child.

The story unfolds with deft direction by Daniel Sullivan, who manages a large ensemble, puppets, original music, and a time jump of 16 years as we discover the fate of Leontes’ lost child.

With the Delacorte’s lack of a back wall, lighting by Bradley King focuses on the stage floor. Set designer Maruti Evans uses three sets of large white double doors on casters to frame our scenes. A large white silk blanket slips offstage to reveal a field when we travel to Bohemia to see the fate of Leontes’ lost child.

Our cast’s garb, brought together by Linda Cho, keeps with the play’s mythological setting, with robes and sandals for men and long chiton robes for the ladies.

Adding to the play’s text is lively original music by Tom Kitt, accompanied by citizens of Bohemia dancing in formations by Mimi Lieber. Puppets by James Ortiz add to the play’s mythic setting.

Esparza’s Leontes is a whirling furrowed brow, a man struggling with the possibility of one of the most personal betrayals within a marriage. Prone to great emotional throes and also the most private of observations and musings, Esparza plays to the back row even in Leontes’ softest moments of regret and rumination, bringing the audience inward to the king’s mad tale of obsession and redemption.

An excellent production of one of Bill’s more challenging works, with original music and lively community dances, gives The Winter’s Tale a feeling of grandeur upon the Delacorte’s stage. Esparza as Leontes anchors our story alongside an excellent ensemble. Enjoy a spirited telling of one of Bill’s more nuanced works, and watch out for bears.

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photos by Joan Marcus

The Winter’s Tale
The Public Theater / Free Shakespeare in the Park
Delacorte Theater, Central Park in New York City
3 hours, 20 minutes with intermission
Tue–Sun at 8
ends on August 22, 2026
free; tickets subject to availability
for tickets, visit The Public Theater

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