Broken Legs Blog

At the wishes of the professional theatre company who were not happy with some of my comments, I have removed their names and the names of their actors. I have also removed any photos of cast members. My reviews are always intended to offer an honest opinion of a production, and never to cause any hurt or upset. I am not a professional theatre critic, and any views offered on this blog should be taken with a pinch of salt.

This production of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” reimagines it at Sicilia Court, a rundown apartment block filled with shady characters and even shadier dealings. This modernisation takes great poetic license with Shakespeare’s text, the finished product ending up somewhere between the original words and a complete rewriting, in an update that doesn’t quite work.

The setting is immediately clear, with a clever backdrop showing the block of flats itself, whilst characters swig vodka from the bottle and snort cocaine. The actor playing Leontes particularly sells this idea, at times coming across as a fairly pathetic and paranoid drug addict. But this is what makes the setting so perplexing – in the synopsis for the show, Leontes is referred to as “the King” (as in the original), and holds some form of power over the other characters, but the reasons for this are never explored or made clear. When Hermione is put on trial for adultery, Leontes is surrounded by people who are faithful to Hermione, robbing him of any agency in the scene. Why those that clearly disagree with Leontes are suddenly forced to do his bidding simply begs the question “why?”, and there are no answers given.

Hermione is portrayed by a deaf actress and BSL is woven into the narrative in a way that strives to be organic, but does not always meet the mark. Translation is provided by multiple characters throughout, all with varying levels of success. It also begs the question why Leontes, as Hermione’s husband, is not able to understand her and requires others to translate for her.

The character of Bear is an original creation for this production, the name a tongue-in-cheek reference to the famous stage direction “Exit pursued by a bear”. Bear acts as Leontes’ body-guard throughout the first act, until he carries out the fateful stage direction by chasing Antigonus off the stage and subsequently murdering them. Again, the reasons for this are unclear, except for the fact that the script requires it.

The play opens with an unnecessary game of musical statues, that does not serve the plot in any way. The first half of the play is overly long, with Leontes’ continual accusations against his wife becoming increasingly repetitive. When Time appears at the end of the first half, his costume is so reminiscent of BBC’s The Traitors that it drew laughs from the audience. The second half moves the action to the Bohemia Caravan Park, where Perdita falls in love with Polixenes’ son Florizel and is, mercifully, shorter (although not by much – still 75 minutes).

This company market themselves as a professional company, but this production is not of professional standard. Many of the ideas have the potential to work, but are not well-realised. This is a poor adaptation of Shakespeare’s work, and not one that I would recommend.

Tom Morley, January 2025