Arin Arbus’ (OBIE, The Skin of Our Teeth) productions of Shakespeare for TFANA include Othello and, most recently, King Lear.
What for Shakespeare is possible after Lear? Ms. Arbus and a brilliant company of artists explore this in The Winter’s Tale, which Shakespeare wrote after his great tragedies.
Leontes, a jealous king, accuses Hermione, his Queen, of infidelity. But unlike Othello, which ends in tragic deaths, in The Winter’s Tale, Shakespeare invented a new form — half-tragedy, half-comedy, its two parts divided by sixteen years. There is metamorphosis. Spring follows winter; comedy follows tragedy; there’s a ferocious bear, song, dance and then a miracle: a statue comes alive.
The Winter’s Tale explores if there can be forgiveness for terrible crimes? Can a shattered marriage and family be healed? Can there be redemption?
Only Shakespeare could make a story as fantastically eventful into cohesive, soul-stirring drama.
