THE Farnham Shakespeare Company posed a well-worn question on the opening night of their latest production on Monday.
Is The Winter's Tale a comedy or a tragedy? It's a question which has been asked by many down the years and the FSC's answer to it on Monday evening was clear. It is both.
Performed in the picturesque setting of Farnham's Library Gardens, the company went out of their way to make the clear distinction between the first and second halves which so differ in tone.
In the first act, we see the tragic element, with the insane jealousy of King Leontes (Anthony Allgood) driving him to order the poisoning of his supposed rival and the execution of his queen, Hermione (Miranda Messenger).
There are some fine performances, especially from Messenger who is almost hypnotic as the wronged queen, so passionate are her speeches.
Allgood is also pretty much all good in the first act and is suitably tortured as the king racked with jealousy. Another fine performance comes from Guildford School of Acting tutor Kate Napier as Paulina, who is emphatic in her championing of the queen's case and is powerful and believable.
In the second act, the comedic part of the play begins and the company makes sure that the emphasis is firmly shifted, making the most of some brilliant comic lines.
In particular, the triple act between the shepherd (John Dickins), clown (Nick Huggins) and streetwise petty thief Autolycus (Steve Brown) is very entertaining.
The three play off each other wonderfully and execute near perfect comic timing throughout the second act to provide some great moments. A knowledgeable audience on Monday also picked up on some fine comic lines which the trio all delivered superbly.
Other performances of note come from the extremely competent Simon Ratcliffe as Polixenes, who makes the switch from wrongly implicated and fearful love rival (tragedy) to a domineering but ridiculously disguised father (comedy), who spies on his son's romance with a shepherdess.
His son Florizel (William Findley) and his beloved Perdita (Libby Curley) are also good as the lovestruck youngsters. They appear only in the second act but are immediately up to the pace set by the first.
The limitations of outdoor performances are nicely overcome by this production and the space is cleverly used, the sparse stage area using the plants and trees of the garden as well as artificial scenery.
The Winter's Tale is viewed by many as one of Shakespeare's most flawed works, with the 16-year time span and starkly contrasting moods making it unworkable.
But the FSC have managed to produce something which certainly works in that it is very watchable and very entertaining. If the play has its faults then the company has done a fine job in covering up the worst of them.
Andy Bothwell.
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