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Confusing tale of two halves
An immersive, participatory display by a queer Australian Aboriginal performer, and a rebellious unravelling of traditional Scottish dance
EWAN CAMERON witnesses a political farce that lacks a clear message
EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
The Winter’s Tale
Bolton Octagon
3/5
THE WINTER’S Tale, one of Shakespeare’s “problem” plays, is certainly a drama of two halves. In the first — dark, intense and emotionally draining — irrational jealousy and paranoia consume the lives of King Leontes and his family.
Convinced his pregnant wife is having an affair with his best friend, he sets about destroying the couple. The gods, angered by his actions, wreak a devastating revenge.
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Family issues and dragon-fuelled history amount to a vacuous spectacle that ill-fits the theatre, muses SIMON PARSONS
GEORGE FOGARTY is dazzled by a breathtakingly skillful puppet version of Shakespeare’s greatest love poem
MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship