A young cast puts new life into old story

Theatre
The Winter’s Tale
San Anton Gardens

There is nothing worse than a paranoid fixation in a relationship – it makes for very uncomfortable exchanges and if left unresolved, often leads to a breakdown in the relationship itself.

What was decidedly good about this production was the cast’s clarity of diction and the fact that they evidently knew what they were talking about...- André Delicata

Shakespeare often revisits all-consuming passions and emotions in his works, primarily because they are what best defines the human condition in terms of its flaws and foibles, and frequently, jealousy is placed under scrutiny.

Jealousy is reductive in the way it manipulates the point of view of those caught up in its throes and it is made very evident in this year’s MADC Shakespeare production of The Winter’s Tale, which I am very glad to say, is back at its traditional venue – and hopefully there to stay.

Director Polly March chose to have a young cast this year – a bold move because the risk of an unfamiliar script and a lack of experience with Shakespeare on the part of some cast members might have proved problematic. But her strong directorial hand and their hard work, together with the mixing in of more established actors, paid off.

The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s plays which is harder to classify. Although generally grouped with the comedies because of its happy ending, I tend to agree with the school of thought which places it with his problem plays, being a pastiche of drama, picaresque banter and hidden identities.

Its first three acts are concerned with Sicilian King Leontes’s irrational jealousy of his wife Hermione’s supposed affair with his brother, King Polixenes of Bohemia.

Philip Leone Ganado, who played Leontes to Simone Spiteri’s Hermione, made a formidable tyrant, whose obsession led him to take drastic and regrettable measures against his wife and brother, Polixenes, played by Yannick Massa.

While Mr Leone Ganado and Ms Spiteri are seasoned actors despite their youth, this was the first big role for Mr Massa – and one which he fulfilled rather well, despite being green.

Ms Spiteri made a charming and credible Hermione and the three showed their versatility in playing a second character in the play – Ms Spiteri playing Dorcas, a country girl, along with Coryse Borg’s Mopsa; Mr Massa, a Mariner and Mr Leone Ganado, a Shepherd.

With strong accent changes and reversals of character types, they gave an excellent performance, especially Mr Leone Ganado’s Shepherd.

In fact, doubling was carried out by every single character but one – the little Mamillius, Leontes’s and Hermione’s young son, played by a precocious Pierluigi Gatt, who got the audience’s “cuteness vote” despite his occasional sing-song delivery.

I particularly liked Ms Borg’s Paulina, whose loyalty to Queen Hermione and love for her lost husband Antigonus, portrayed by Nathan Brimmer, were heartfelt and impassioned.

Mr Brimmer, on the other hand, gave a good interpretation as Antigonus, who took the baby Perdita to the distant Bohemian shores and was chased and eaten by a bear – giving rise to one of Shakespeare’s best known stage directions “Exit Antigonus, pursued by a bear”.

The bear in question was portrayed by Joe Depasquale, who also provided other minor roles, while Perdita, Leontes’s and Hermione’s daughter, whom Leontes banishes because he thinks she is not his, was played by the up-and-coming Nicola Abela Garrett, who had previously doubled as Emilia.

Ever the picture of grace as Perdita, Ms Abela Garrett worked well with Mr Brimmer, who doubled as her adopted brother, Clown, providing much of the light-hearted banter in the second half of the play, along with Joseph Zammit’s Autolycus, a roguish opportunist who poses as a Rastafarian peddler.

These two actors have a great sense of comic timing and did a very good job in adding some much-needed levity to the second half of the performance.

David Chircop’s clement Cleomenes was convinced of Leontes’s contrition, while the just and honourable Camillo, played by Michael Mangion with much gravitas and poise, tried to do what was best for both Polixenes and his son Florizel.

Luke Farrugia’s portrayal of Florizel, the headstrong young bohemian prince in love with Perdita, was charming but could have done with being a touch more sharp.

What was decidedly good about this production was the cast’s clarity of diction and the fact that they evidently knew what they were talking about and expressed themselves in such a way as to give the audience an excellent understanding of the play.

All in all, The Winter’s Tale was a tale of MADC success and made for a very pleasant evening out.