This late Shakespearean romance has had several productions in this area in recent seasons, including a visually unique and rather plodding one at the ART. "A Winter's Tale" presents an interesting interpretive problem. The first three acts are almost pure domestic tragedy on the royal level, with only a hint of lightening towards the end of Act III. The major force in the play, Leontes, the irrationally jealous King of Sicilia, done with here with energy by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley head of Rhode Island's Mixed Magic Theatre, dominates the first half of the play. The tragic heroine, Hermione his queen, played by B.U.'s Paula Langton, disappears from the action midway through. Polixenes King of Bohemia, Leontes' boyhood friend and the object of his sudden wrath, done for the Actors' Shakespeare Project by guest artist, peripetatic Joel Colodner escapes from Sicilia with the help of Leontes' advisor Camillo, played by Haitian-born, Doublas Theodore. The latter becomes his advisor only to see Polixenes turn tyrannical towards his own son, whom he then assists in escaping his father's anger.
The first hint that this play is actually a tragicomedy occurs at the end of the third act when Antigonus, done wryly by versatile local stage veteran, Richard Snee, at Leontes' abandons Hermione's infant daughter on the shores of Bohemia, with appropriate tokens and flees pursued by a bear. Director, Curt L. Tofteland, head of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, creates this monster through a group mime which swarms over its prey. The ensemble then dissolves into a herd of sheep, after which Snee reappears as the Shepherd who finds the baby. He's joined by his clownish son, played by Boscon faculty member Doug Lockwood who recounts seeing bear devour Antogonus. The mood of doom which has built up so far begins to dissipate with this fantastic situation.
When the action resumes in Act IV sixteen years later--this production omits the Time's long intermediate prologue--Camillo is requesting a leave of absence to return to Sicilia, but Polixenes requests rather that his old friend accompany him--disguised--to discover what his son has been up to. Next comes one of the Bard's most unusual comic roles, the rogue Autolycus, done by mercurial John Kuntz, who appeared in ASP's inaugural production as Richard III. He appears noodling on his saxophone, ready for the main chance, which arrives soon enough when the Shepherd's son comes in on the way to market. Spotting his mark, he pretends to be an Irish clergyman who's been robbed on the highway, and soon fleeces the poor fool. It's now time to meet the young lovers, Prince Florizel, played by stalwart James Ryen and Perdita, played by petite Cristi Miles. During the subsequent sheepshearing festival, before their engagement can be made, Polixenes, who's there in disguise, intervenes. The plot thickens as Camillo helps the young lovers escape with him to Sicilia, followed by Polixenes, who's been shown the tokens left with Perdita by the Shepherd and his son at Autolycus' behest.
Meanwhile, back in Sicilia, Leontes has mourned Hermione all these years, plus the death of their son, Mamillius, done by young Oliver Stickney in Act I. He's reminded of his culpability by Bobbie Steinbach playing Antigonus' wife, Paulina, who was Hermione's gentlewoman earlier in the play and the two courtiers who originally brought proof of the Queen's innocence from Delphi. When Florizel and Perdita arrive, he embraces the son of his old friend and his Princess, not know the latter is his daughter. Trouble soon looms with Polixenes' arrival, but Peridita's true identity is soon known, thanks to the Shepherd's tokens, all by report in a scene which ends with Autolycus' humbling--for the moment--by the assumed dignity of the Shepherd and his son. The final ensemble scene is the magical transformation of a supposed statue of Hermione, kept hidden at Paulina's house, into a reborn Hermione, after which the King marries her to Camillo to complete the play. While this whole fantasy is loosely based on Green's tale of "Pandosto", Shakespeare's answer to his old critic, well after the latter's death, is complex meditation on power and jealousy.
All this action takes place on a simple in-the-round stage laid on the floor of the old Hall of Records in the historic Bullfinch Courthouse. The only decoration is an abstract tree form painted on the floor, echoed on three banners hanging from the balconies. Designer Caleb Wertenbaker uses his lighting to control the mood of the show, from its wintery beginning to a summery end. Charles Schoonmaker's costume plot suggests both modern dress and the timeless nature of the play. Composer Peter Bayne performs his score live at a visible keyboard. Once again, by concentrating on the text and utilizing an experienced company, the Actors' Shakespeare Project has produced a satisfying rendition of one of the Bard's problem plays.