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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Deer virus can cause foaming at the mouth ... Police reports, June 27-28 ... Hummel touts Ashland support ... Deer virus can cause foaming at the mouth ... Police reports, June 27-28 ... Hummel touts Ashland support ... THEATER REVIEW 'The Winter's Tale' of two worlds Comment By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Jun. 23, 2016 at 6:00 PM By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Jun. 23, 2016 at 6:00 PM » RELATED CONTENT 'The Winter's Tale' --> By William Shakespeare  Directed by Desdemona Chiang  Scenic design by Richard L. Hay  Playing in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival t... » Read more X 'The Winter's Tale' By William Shakespeare  Directed by Desdemona Chiang  Scenic design by Richard L. Hay  Playing in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival through Oct. 16 • Review: OSF's 'The Wiz' glitters with stunning visuals • OSF's outdoor season heats up • Quills & Queues: Comins reflects on what it means to be Hamlet at OSF... • The tale of how a premed student came to direct 'The Winter's Tale'... » Social News Long considered one of Shakespeare's more complex plays (indeed, many scholars and critics of the Bard of Avon have thought that it should be cast among the "problem plays" of the canon, due to the intense psychological and dramatic themes with which the audience is assailed for the first half), "The Winter's Tale" can be a difficult work for the rookie theatergoer to get his or her head around. As such, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Desdemona Chiang can be congratulated for bringing an accessible and crisp new production of the play to the Allen Elizabethan Theatre this season. With a play that is traditionally split into two very distinct segments, Chiang and her creative team have elected to make that duality all the more pronounced with a starkly contrasted staging as conceived by Richard L. Hay, with costuming by Helen Q. Huang. The first act is set in a subdued monochrome; the starkness of the palette contributes mightily to the unyielding characteristics of the various players who are unlucky enough to call this world home. Throw in a patrician king — the stubborn and unstable Leontes — who has come unhinged due to a perceived infidelity by his beloved wife, Hermione (a woman so categorically loyal to her liege that everyone at court, and even a mystical being through whom the gods have prophesied, rush to her aid). But to no avail. Leontes' inconsolable pride obliterates everyone around him, until a tragedy worthy of his arrogance finally splits his life, and his family, in two. Eric Steinberg delivers an excellent Leontes. His intelligent take on the character of the mad sovereign gives the audience an opportunity to not easily dismiss what is going on in Leontes' psyche as simple priggishness. Steinberg conveys the agony and internal conflict of the enraged monarch where a lesser actor might well have wandered into the territory of caricature. As Hermione, Amy Kim Waschke finds a delicious balance between pleading protestation and regal insubordination; the play has been called feminist before, and with good reason. Waschke's Hermione refuses to bow her crowned head to a husband whose psychological weakness only goes to prove the queen all the more integrous as the play goes on. A nod should also be given to James Ryen, as Polixenes, childhood friend of Leontes and the supposed seducer of Hermione. Ryen, whose remarkable stage presence has already been well established this season at OSF in the sublime "Vietgone," sustained his regal bearing under an onslaught of irrational accusation. Courtiers engage the king with courage, wit and potency, but to no avail. Most notable among this funereal cortège are Paulina (Christiana Clark), one of Hermione's ladies, whose role in the action is to speak as much truth to power as she can get away with, and Camillo (Cristofer Jean), an elder of the court and loyal adviser to the king. Both plead their cases to no avail. Clark, coming in at very short notice in her capacity as an understudy, seems well-primed for one of the key roles in the play. It was a tall order for her to fully embody so complex a character on short notice. While the tail end of her performance required a discreet glance towards the script, Clark, for the most part, shone through under tough circumstances. Jean, an OSF veteran, is terrific as Camillo; his sage and loyal éminence grise is willing to bend over backwards to protect his king. After taking quite a beating in the leaden land of Sicilia, the audience is shortly launched into a scene of pastoral bliss and colorful humor, as Act II opens in the land of Bohemia, some 16 years after the bleak events of the past. A joyous and naive group of rogues, shepherds and country folk soothe away the brutality of the earlier action, and the audience is in for some fine comedy, thanks in no small part to Stephen Michael Spencer, playing Autolycus, a wandering pickpocket, musician, and all-around rogue. Spencer fills the stage with music, mirth and mischief. Accompanied in his frolicsome antics by an ensemble that merrily dances and sings their way towards an almost viable counterbalance to the grim core of the play, it seems at times as though Shakespeare has written much of the second act as a sort of populist salve to keep his patrons in their seats. Thanks to the wisecracking talents of Spencer, as well as the waggish exploits of a father and son team of shepherds (played by Jonathan Haugen and Paco Tolson, respectively) the action comes off well. After a session with the obligatory dangling headpieces, highly mobile McGuffins, and overt mirthfulness so often associated with minor characters in the Shakespearean canon, we're all off back to Sicilia for an incredibly moving finale that brings the serious action of the first act to resolution. "The Winter's Tale" is structurally robust enough to withstand its own shortcomings. With a core group of excellent actors, and Ms. Chiang at the helm, the play comes off very well indeed. If "Winter's Tale" teaches us anything, it's that time, loyalty and perspective can heal most, if not all, wounds. For that lesson alone, OSF's production is a worthwhile night at the theater. Exit critic ... not pursued by a bear. Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Daily Tidings columnist, arts reviewer and freelance writer. Email him at gillespie.jeffrey @gmail.com. By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Jun. 23, 2016 at 6:00 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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