Studio 58

The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare
Directed by Anita Rochon
Studio 58, Langara College
Nov 19 to Dec 13, 2009

Vancouver, BC: Led by two Studio 58 alumni, director Anita Rochon, and Mike Wasko as the insanely jealous  Sicilian king Leontes, the student cast succeed in presenting a interesting and entertaining production of  The Winter's Tale. I use the word succeed deliberately because as I look back on my  reviews of other  productions of this play (Winter's Tale, Summer's Storm), I note that this play in more ways than the conventional meaning for me is a problem play, and it is a real challenge to pull it off well.

The problem lies with Shakespeare, not with whoever happens to be playing Leontes. The entire premise centres around the sudden irrational jealousy of Leontes that leads him to accuse his wife Hermione (Melissa Dionisio)  of adultery with his childhood friend, Polixenes, Prime Minister of Bohemia  (Jason Clift) who has been visiting Sicily for the past months.  Since the text begins with a cordial Leontes pleading vainly with Polixenes to tarry a few days longer in Sicily, and then within  a few minutes of observing his wife succeed in her plea to have Polixenes stay, turns Leontes into a maniacally jealous man, it requires a huge leap of faith for the audience to follow Leontes down his path of lunacy.