![]() ![]() Kevin Rich has done a fine job with the American Shakespeare Center’s current touring company production. With the lights up, actors directly engaging the audience, and a brisk pace that keeps pathos and chaos well balanced. Leave it to the American Shakespeare Center to show how this masterpiece shines when it’s performed in the context for which it was originally intended. That all this confusion might be incredibly entertaining and moving, ditto. That there might be more to The Winter’s Tale than a ‘Bohemian Navy’ or some dudes in a bear suit plumb evades us. The Winter’s Tale is a classic example a tale of jealousy, repentance and forgiveness which spans no fewer than 16 years (!!), the play is remembered today in part for its dubious geography (Bohemia has a seaside here) but primarily for a terse blocking note: “ Exit pursued by bear. Longer and more complex, with familiar plot lines splintered and grafted into seemingly bizarre new patterns, these plays have suffered from their reputations as head-scratchers. ![]() For all his brilliance, Shakespeare still suffers from the occasional whining of critics about his later “problem” plays. ![]()
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