Through October 11
Great Lakes Theater’s 2026-27 season-opener, William Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, luxuriates in a re-telling of one of the Bard’s last works via director Tracy Young’s modernized version.
Young’s Play On Shakespeare production updates speeches (slightly) and jokes (important). What was comically vulgar in the past is not always understood or shocking today. We can more easily comprehend what is intended as funny or rude.
Don’t worry—the most famous phrase, a stage direction to “Exit, pursued by a bear,” is preserved. (And yes, I approve of the changes, even though at times the fable stretches credibility—as was oft the Bard’s wont.)
Although the play begins showing a peaceful kingdom and two powerful rulers as best friends, things quickly turn bad. Blame the Kings.
King Leontes of Sicily (a paranoid and jealous Nick Steen) decides that his very pregnant wife, Queen Hermione (a sweetly lovely Gina Daniels), has betrayed him with his (soon-to-be-former) best friend, King Polixenes of Bolognia (a stalwart Derek Garza).
He orders her murder and that of her newly born daughter. At this point, one wonders “How can this be a comedy?” Deaths are beginning to pile up; all seems lost and sad.
But no matter how bad it seems at times, there’s only one fatality (And I’m still scolding Shakespeare for that one since the only permanent victim, Mamillius [Dylan Lee Tanks], is a playful child. Lucky for us, Tanks returns later as a young shepherd, so he’s seen again.)
So. Time passes. Sixteen years, to be exact. We learn that Perdita (a lovely Janiyah ‘Jai’ McAllister), King Leontes’ daughter, has survived, thanks to the kindness of shepherds in Bohemia. And, yep, King Polizenes’ son, Prince Florizel (Ethan Flanagan) falls for her and—voila!—happiness. The Winter’s Tale ends with a wedding (or two), thus making it a “comedy” by Shakespearian dramatic rules.
It was not all tragic. Parts were funny, thanks to truly comic work by Jodi Dominick (as “Clown”) and Sean Patrick Doyle (as grifter Autolycus). Both earned hearty laughs as their characters popped in and out of the tale.
All players worked well as a team, smoothly taking over multiple characters as the story continued. In addition to those cited above, the ensemble included Sean Patrick Doyle (Autolycus), Derek Garza (Polixenes), Ian Gould (Old Shepherd), Theo Lallly (Young Shepherd), Laura Perrotta (Paulina), and Matthew Wright (Camillo).
Beautiful scenic design by William Boles, involving circles and multiple openings on and off stage, reflected the quickly-shifting world created in this Shakespearean tale. Costume designer Alex Jaeger made it easy to distinguish where characters were from by approximating each country’s traditional costumes.
Other Great Lakes production team credits go to Sara Bruner, artistic director; Nicki Cathro, production stage manager; Lue Douthit, dramaturg; Christine Harwood, wig designer; Kelsey Malone, assistant stage manager; Rick Martin, lighting designer; Jaclyn Miller, Movement Director; Jane Shaw, Sound Designer and Composer, and Celina Lee Surniak, intimacy/fight director.
Bottom Line: By late in his career, when Shakespeare wrote A Winter’s Tale, he seems to have had it with kings and plots. Possibility his last, this cobbled together work includes “believe it or not” miracles, including a royal statue that comes to life after sixteen years (and now even shows a few gray hairs and a couple of wrinkles).
But who cares? This Great Lakes production shines as an elaborate blend (of farce, clowns, romance and tragedy) that seems true to Shakespeare’s original while also being understandable today. And it’s only a play featuring a mad king, nothing like our real life.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
