The Winter’s Tale at Shakespeare’s Globe

Sicilia and Bohemia: the two worlds of The Winter’s Tale are literally and physically distant from one another here at Shakespeare’s Globe, where both of the venue’s spaces are used. We begin in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, its candlelit warmth and intimacy contrasting with the cool feel on stage, where Leontes (Sergo Vares) suffers his ever-increasing paranoia and madness, convinced of his wife Hermione’s (Bea Segura) affair with his childhood friend, Polixenes (John Lightbody), and refusing to believe her baby is in fact his own. At the climax of his neurosis, Leontes undresses to underwear and vest and lies on the glass table, serving to highlight his infantile behaviour. 

After the interval we are led to Bohemia in the Globe Theatre – an ingenious move to contrast these different places. Bohemia is more generous in space, the action taking place on a series of colourful trestle tables overlit by coloured bulbs. And here poor Antigonus (Colm Gormley) meets his fate in one of the more hilarious moments: chased and mauled by a silent, suave bear. (It has to be said, the bear was probably everyone’s favourite. Kudos to the designer, who managed to fashion both a teddy bear and ruthless killer in the same stroke.)

It is in Bohemia that the play really comes to life: not quite bucolic, but nevertheless rowdy and rustic, as a sheep-shearing festival should be. Here the baby is left to a pair of hapless shepherds (Colm Gormley and Samuel Creasey), growing up as Perdita (Jacoba Williams), who falls for Polixenes’s son, Florizel (Sarah Slimani). The people of Bohemia are played by actors of the Soldiers’ Arts Academy, who are serving or veteran personnel who have been impacted by their time in service; the SAA offers a route to the arts and recovery. Standout performances from Paulina (Nadine Higgin) for her commanding presence and Autolycus (Ed Gaughan) for his cockney geezer wit are also of note.

The musicians (Richard Jones, viola, and Laura Moody, cello and also musical director) manage to create two distinct almost improvisatory sound worlds, punctuating scenes with discordant cadences and filling the dry acoustic of the Playhouse. In Bohemia, with guitar and percussion, they are bawdy singers and become part of the cast. 

Back in the Playhouse (Sicilia) for the third act, the stage is spare and dark. The principal players attempt a difficult and bizarre reconciliation, as Polixenes and Leontes realise who Perdita really is. No spoilers, but if for those who know the surprise ending, here it is made more startling by its subtlety. 

Michael Bennett
Photos: Tristram Kenton

The Winter’s Tale is at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 24^th February until 16^th April 2023. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.