IT’S TEASINGLY ironic that the first production for the RSC’s new Long Ensemble – 44 actors who will perform together until mid-2011 – is also one of the Bard’s last.
That contradictory nature is also reflected in the dramatically opposing two halves of The Winter’s Tale, widely regarded as Shakespeare’s last ‘comedy.’
Although there aren’t many laughs in the unremittingly dark first three acts – as the paranoid dinner-party suspicions of King Leontes have devastating consequences for his wife, children, and friends – acts four and five, complete with lengthy stage time for Shakespeare’s much-loved jester-musician-types, are almost frivolous by comparison.
The lighter mood is aided by electricity as well as plot, as the previously dark surrounds – the set literally falls apart along with Leontes’ life at the interval – are ‘illuminated’ as the action moves from the dingy court of Sicily to sunny rural Bohemia.
But as much as the Courtyard Theatre’s staging is once again exemplary, the real stars of this very fine production are the Long Ensemble – most notably Greg Hicks as Leontes, and Dr Who regular Noma Dumezweni, as voice of reason Paulina – which suggests that the next couple of years could be something special.
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