Check out The Winters Tale review round up. Thou should check it out.
Below are reviews for The Winters Tale that is currently showing at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield, UK.
The Guardian 4/5
“The Winter’s Tale is perhaps Shakespeare’s ultimate test of an audience’s willingness to suspend disbelief. We must be prepared to accept that doting husbands can become jealous maniacs, that statues may spring to life, and a character be chased off stage by a bear. Director Paul Miller does not attempt to smooth out the play’s inconsistencies, but takes the instruction of the play’s wisest character, Paulina, at face value: “‘Tis required you do awake your faith.””
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/oct/09/the-winters-tale-review
Screen Critix
“What impressed me most, apart from the giant sheep’s head, was the quality of the acting. The funny thing is when I say Colin Firths brother was in the play you automatically assume he’s the show stealer. Not in my opinion, Daniel Lapaine was off the charts. He left a lasting impression for sure. That isn’t taking anything away from Jonathan Firth who delivered a good performance.”
Broadway World
“This production is not perfect, as with many Shakespeare plays, it takes a long time to get started. As a result, the first scene, full of long speeches, is somewhat dull to listen to – and mostly consists of actors walking and talking, so it’s not too exciting to watch, either. Perhaps some judicious pruning of the text might have helped here, or a more creative approach taken to the staging of this scene. However, once the key plot elements are put into place and situations complicate themselves via Leontes becoming suspicious of his wife Hermione (Claire Price, a familiar and welcome face at Sheffield Theatres) and friend Polixenes (Jonathan Firth), the pace quickens and the rest of the show flies by (at over three hours it’s not short – and the interval was very brief). Indeed, the second act is almost breathtaking in the range of performance required of the actors and they pull it off very successfully, with one cast member in particular leaving you wondering, ‘How did they do THAT’?”
TheStage.co.uk
“Over the course of the play the actors may have to veer between lyrical speeches, psychological melodrama, low comedy and rural otherworldliness, but the entire company, led by Daniel Lapaine as Leontes, Claire Price as Hermione and Jonathan Firth as Polixenes, seem to delight in taking the audience with them on their irresistible journey into a Shakespearean fairytale for grown-ups.”
http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/38998/the-winters-tale
British Theatre Guide
“The large thrust stage at the Crucible presents a particular problem in the statue scene, but Daw cleverly overcomes this, enabling the ‘statue’ to be placed in a central rather than upstage position, where it can be easily seen by the whole audience.”
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-winter-s-ta-crucible-9485
The Bardathon
“This was, in the end, the production’s problem. Moments of potential (the Bear, entering on all fours to lope around the edge of the stage amid flashes of lightning) were followed by deflations or disappointments (the Bear ran comically off stage rather than continuing in its menacing prowl). The bare stage felt like lack of imagination given the tired setting rather than a push towards efficiency, especially given the length of some of the scene changes. And the momentum built up in the first half was entirely lost in the second, which meandered towards a conclusion that seemed too nervous to say anything about the play. This Winter’s Tale, that is , managed to be much less than the sum of its parts, and while it was sporadically amusing and featured some excellent performative work in its first half, struggled to sustain focus and interest.”
http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/bardathon/2013/10/08/the-winters-tale-sheffield-theatres-the-crucible/
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