Word: tales
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Winter's Tale opened officially a fortnight ago. There is a special appropriateness in the choice, too, since a major theme of the play is an apparent demise that leads to renewed life--symbolic of the plight of the AST itself. As the Shepherd says at the very center of the play, "Thou mettest with things dying, I with things new-born...
Well, it is different--and why should it not be? At the end of his career Shakespeare turned to the novel genre of the tragicomic romance, and in four related works--Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest--explored the theme of intrafamilial separation, repentance, and reconciliation. The first two, with their intentional artlessness, are not wholly successful. Received opinion at last has acknowledged The Tempest a masterpiece, but the battle for The Winter's Tale is far from...
...tide is turning. A decade ago A.D. Nuttall kicked off his intriguing book on the play thus: "The Winter's Tale is the most beautiful play Shakespeare ever wrote. It is a less intelligent play than Hamlet (but not much less intelligent). It is less profound than King Lear (but not much less)." And Fitzroy Pyle's more recent volume on the work should further the appreciation of its stature and consummate artistry...
...happen fast in this play; there is not time for leisurely exploration of motivations and developments--such as we get in Othello. So the onset of jealousy here is rather sudden, yet a fine player like Kerr can make it work. It must be remembered that The Winter's Tale is a tale, that Shakespeare was here, as in the other three late romances, presenting a myth, where there is more emphasis on the parade of incidents and their implications than on depth of character. If the performers can round out their roles, so much the better...
Autolycus aside, director Kahn is giving us a Winter's Tale of sovereign sway and masterdom...