Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow
Three
Stars
The
tables are set, the bunting is out and everyone is prepared to eat cake in this
new take on one of Shakespeare’s so-called ‘problem plays’, meaning a work too willfully
contrary with its own style to be dubbed either comedy or tragedy. Or, as
latter day parlance might deem this dense story of misguided jealousy,
emotional and physical exile and inevitable reconciliation; it’s complicated.
These
complications are wrapped up in several other layers in Marc Silberschatz’s
production, performed by Masters students from the RCS’ Contemporary and
Classical Text course. As if Good King Leontes’ throwing his rattle out of the
pram wasn’t enough after he accuses his old pal Polixenes of doing the dirty
with his Queen Hermione, little does he know that his long lost daughter
Perdita has her eye on dangerous liaisons of her own.
Silberschatz’s
own adaptation duly turns the play upside down, with additional text by Thomas
Dekker and inspiration in part from American novelist Kathryn Davis. So Polixenes’
son Florizel is here a daughter called Calantha. Both names relate to flowers
in bloom, and Calantha’s disguise as boy-shepherd Doricles has a Yentl-like
frisson as she tries identities out for size in a thoroughly modern kingdom.
If
such a shift risks distracting from the mess Leontes makes of things, it also
reveals him as a man out of time. The play is powered by a nuanced performance
from Andy Camichel as Leontes, who looks every inch the small-town dignitary
posing for photo-ops at the church fete. With Catherine King’s live British
Sign Language interpretation woven into the action, there is fine ensemble
support led by Jaimee Aislyn de Witt as Leontes and Hermione’s son Mamillius,
with Eddi Asher’s Perdita and Emilia Wallace’s Calantha making the cutest of
couples. The cake may be left untouched at the end, but winter is about to turn
to spring.
The Herald, March 6th 2020
ends
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