Theatre review of The Winter's Tale at The Old Vic
Sam Mendes brings Shakespeare's comedy to the London stage as part of his Bridge Project, with stars Simon Russell Beale and Ethan Hawke playing the lead roles
10 June 2009
Rating: 4/5
Sam Mendes returns to the theatre with transatlantic pizazz, kicking off his double bill with a Winter's Tale set in a buttoned-up Edwardian-style court and a Leontes (Simon Russell Beale) who combines a rivetingly intense descent into insane jealousy with comic absurdity.
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Sitting on his son’s bed, clutching his bear, the King’s petulant, stunted, childlike longing for his boyhood is beautifully evoked before we’re taken to the sunny future: an All-American hoedown pastoral scene, complete with genital-shaped balloon dancing and Ethan Hawke as a hobo-ish Autolycus, mumbling his songs but grabbing every ounce of attention and ribald laughs as the roguish peddler.
This is an intelligent reimagining, fabulously performed, especially by Rebecca Hall’s serene Hermione, whose breathtakingly powerful and moving denunciation and statue scenes remind us that - for all its fairy tale improbability, the Hollywood stars and Mendesian madcappery - there is a profound and humane story of redemption beating at this play’s core.
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The Winter's Tale , until 15 August, The Old Vic , 103 The Cut, SE1 8NB, 0870 060 6628
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