'A Winter's Tale,' worth the telling

Shakespeare in Delaware Park solves the problems of the problem play with panache

 “The Winter’s Tale,” the first show this season from Shakespeare in Delaware Park, doesn’t have any snow in it. The setting isn’t even frosty – it’s set in Sicily, after all.

No, the winter of this tale lies in the cold heart of an inexplicably jealous man.

And watching that is incredibly chilling. When actor Daniel Lendzian has his Act I Scene 2 breakdown as King Leontes, overcome with the (false) suspicion that his wife has been unfaithful to him, summer stands still on Shakespeare Hill.

The picnicking audience seems stunned as the family love and friendly fellowship that opened the play suddenly evaporate. Leontes – though he has no Iago to push him – is taken by a bizarre and wrenching despair, agonizing at the imagined adultery of his queen, Hermione, believing she has betrayed him with his best friend, Polixenes, the king of Bohemia.

Going toe to toe with him in this powerful scene is Kate Olena as Camillo/Camilla, a lord in service to the king, who refuses to support the vicious allegations against her “sovereign mistress.” Her sense of helplessness is palpable as Leontes pushes aside pleas for reason, leaving this faithful servant no choice but to warn Polixenes (Todd Benzin) and flee with him.

The swiftness of Leontes’ madness is matched by the speed of his response – to order the murder of his friend and the imprisonment of his pregnant wife.

Before she’s taken off to “gaol,” however, we are reminded of how beautifully Shakespeare could write for his female characters. As Hermione, Vernia Sharisse Garvin delivers a passionate defense of her honor while even more honorably maintaining her love for the husband who is calling her a “hobby horse” and “bed-swerver.”

Unfortunately, despite being cleared by the word of the Oracle at Delphos, working under the auspices of Apollo, Hermione dies, as does Mamillius, the couple’s son. And still that doesn’t keep Leontes from banishing the baby girl Hermione delivers before her death.

This opens the door for a most powerful verbal takedown of Leontes by Annette Daniels Taylor as the heart-broken Paulina, a lady-in-waiting to the queen. She is a force of grief and fury as she lambastes the king for his tyranny and the monstrous betrayal of his friend, his wife and his daughter.

Meanwhile, Paulina’s husband Antigonus (Gerald Ramsey) has sailed with the baby to Bohemia, where the child is found and raised by a shepherd (Michael Starzynski) while Antigonus falls victim to the most famous stage direction Elizabethan theater (“Exit, pursued by a bear,” which you can buy on a SDP T-shirt).

(Intermission)

Then, the sun goes down and the mood lightens up as “The Winter’s Tale” transitions into a comedy, set 16 years after the initial action and featuring young lovers, a clown, a conman, a sheep-shearing festival, joyful reconciliations and an interesting trick of reanimation.  

Kerrykate Abel is a merry thief as Autolycus; Gabriella McKinley and Jake Hayes make sweet music as the kings’ offspring Perdita and Florizel; and Phil Wackerfuss is, as ever, a delightful clown.

Director Kate Powers keeps stage trickery to a minimum throughout, making it easier to track the kind of convoluted plot.  Instead, she brightens things with musical pieces from Tom Makar (we loved the harmonizing lords) and dance choreographed by John Fredo.

You can read about the entire cast and crew in the online playbill, found on the Shakespeare in Delaware Park website or by using a QR code found at the venue.

(Local playwrights talk about why we still turn out for Shakespeare in Gusto.)

Shakespeare in Delaware Park’s production of “The Winter’s Tale” continues Tuesdays-Sundays through July 14, including July 4, starting each night at 7 p.m. on Shakespeare Hill, behind the Rose Garden in Delaware Park. Rain cancellations are announced on Facebook by 6:30 p.m. Bring blankets or camp chairs for seating; picnics are welcome. Attendance is free, but generosity is encouraged when hats are passed at intermission.

Next up: “The Comedy of Errors,” July 25 – Aug. 18.