The
Winters Tale - Touring
Playwright - William Shakespeare
Director - Dominic Hill
Designer - Gregory Smith
Lighting Designer - Richard Moffat
Composer - Steve Kettley
2003 Cast - details
Company - Dundee Rep Theatre Company
Venue - Dundee Rep www.dundeerep.co.uk
01382 223530
Excellent restaurant/cafe
Production history - Production originally staged March 2001
revived for 2001 Summer Season and rereviewed then and revived again
in 2003 touring to Iran organised by British Council and comes back
to tour in Scotland details
Reviewer - Thelma Good
Classy production, well cast actors.
A classy set and lighting, well cast actors of all ages speaking Shakespeare's
lines fluently and well, with Hill's sharp, intelligent direction for
the comedy as well as the tragedy, all make this Winter's Tale worth
seeing. With a elegant beginning - a young fresh boy saying "A
sad tale's best for winter", this fine Dundee production takes
us into the destructive emotion of jealousy.
This emotion forces King Leontes of Sicily, Alexander West, to put his
wife Hermione, through a show trial, accusing her of adultery and treason
with his lifelong friend King Polixenes of Bohemia. Meg Fraser's
quietly strong Hermione and Billy Mack's charming Polixenes
lead us in the well directed trial scene to see clearly her shinning
innocence. Honour is a powerful theme in this play as Hermione is condemned
to death and Leontes begins to lose everything he held dear. John
Ramage as Camillo portrays the patient wisdom of the older man as
Ann Louise Ross's Paulina shows the steel of the older woman,
both damaged by King Leonte's warped emotion.
The tragic first half ends with a magnificent storm as Hermione's new
born daughter, Perdita is discovered left abandoned on a Bohemian shore
by The Shepherd, made by John Buick a delightful Aberdeenshire
worthy. In the second half his son The Clown, David Jenkins,
together with the wickedly beguiling Autolycus, Rodney Matthew, in
their comic encounters give these stock characters full individuality.
The whole ensemble makes the Shepherd's wool-gathering feast great fun
as they cavort as rumbustious rural characters.
This play culminates not with more tragedy but triumphantly with an
extraordinary, fulfilling resolution, yet acknowledging the hurts that
went before. The young lovers Perdita and Florizel, captivatingly played
by Rebecca Sleeman and Andrew Clark, are clear hopes for
a finer future. The echoes of other plays like Shakespeare's Othello,
Henry VIII and Midsummer Night's Dream and the Greek tragedies Oedipus
and Phaedra also sucessfully resonate in this production.
©Thelma Good 15 June 2001
This production was rereviewed for the 2001 summer season
2003 Tour details and 2003 cast
2003 Cast details
Alexander West (Leontes), Billy Mack (Polixenes), Meg Fraser (Hermoine),
Andrew Clark (Florizel). Claire Dargo (Perdita, originally played in
2001 by Rebecca Sleeman), Ann Louise Ross (Paulina), Sandy Neilson (Antigonous),
Keith Fleming (Autolycus, originally played in 2001 by Rodney
Matthew). Janine Mellor (Archidamus & Cleomenes). Robert Paterson
(Camillo, originally played in 2001 by John Ramage), John Buick (The
Shepherd), David Jenkins (The Clown), Emily Winter (Emilia & Mopsa)
and Joe Summerton (Mamillius).
The Winter's Tale
- Dundee Rep Resident Company's production of Shakepeare's play directed
by Dominic Hill opens the 21st Fajr International Theatre Festival in
Terhran returning to Dundee touring to Inverness and Aberdeen.
Tour begins
21 - 24 Jan. at the Talar Vahdat Theatre, Tehran, IRAN.
31 Jan & 1 Feb at 7.30pm & Sat Mat 2.30pm Dundee
Rep Theatre - 01382 223530.
5 - 8 Feb at 7.30pm & Sat Mat 2.30pm Inverness
Eden Court Theatre - 01463
234234.
12 - 15 Feb at 7.30pm & Sat Mat 2.30pm Aberdeen His
Majesty's Theatre 01224 641122.
End of tour.
|
|