Glimpses of fine craft and grand ambition cannot hold together Sean Holmes’s sprawling production of The Winter’s Tale. Taking over both the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and the Globe theatre, this chaotic tragi-comedy struggles to root us emotionally in Shakespeare’s story.
At the candlelit Wanamaker, we are in Sicilia, Grace Smart’s design conjuring the sleek, rich dining room of King Leontes (strait-laced Sergo Vares). Over an extravagant tasting menu of tiny, dry-iced dishes, the king’s accusation that his wife is cheating with his friend, the king of Bohemia (a looser, more confident performance from John Lightbody) feels entirely unfounded. So sets off a whirlwind of events as courses keep coming. Time collapses and the king’s sanity quickly scuttles away from him. But the impact has little time to be felt; delivery is rushed, lines sped through. News of deaths pile up like dishes. In the constant hurry, there’s hardly time to care.
