BWW Reviews: Gender Switching and Circus Performers Liven Up THE WINTER'S TALE at Anon It Moves

If you (like me) are afraid of clowns, it's time to get over that and head down to Shaking the Tree for Anon It Moves' imaginative production of THE WINTER'S TALE. There, you'll find all the psychodrama, comedy, live music, and circus acts you could possibly need for a night's entertainment.

THE WINTER'S TALE is a somewhat strange play. The first part is heavy drama. Leontes (played by the very kingly Glenn McCumber), the king of Sicilia, and Polixenes (Brian Demar Jones), the king of Bohemia, are great friends until Leontes becomes convinced that he is being cuckolded by Polixenes and, in a rage of jealousy, crafts a plot to poison him. Polixenes hears about the plot from Leontes' servant Camillo (Paul Susi) and manages to escape.

Leontes then publicly accuses his pregnant wife, Hermione (Erica Terpening-Romeo), of infidelity and tosses her in prison, where she gives birth to a daughter. Leontes orders Antigonus (Michael C. Jordan) to abandon the child somewhere, and Antigonus takes her to Bohemia and leaves her in a basket with some gold. Leontes is miserable, Antigonus is killed by a bear, and Hermione is reported dead as well. Basically, no one is having a good time.

Things lighten up considerably in part two. By then, 16 years have passed and the abandoned baby, who was found and raised by a shepherd and his son, has grown into a beautiful young woman, Perdita (Corey Maier), who has captured the heart of Florizel (traditionally Polixenes' son, but in this production, his daughter, played by the lovely Isabella Buckner). Polixenes forbids Florizel to see Perdita, so with help from Camillo the two lovebirds flee to Sicilia. There, Leontes realizes that Perdita is his daughter, there is much general rejoicing, and everything that was once wrong is set right.

There was always a Clown in THE WINTER'S TALE -- the shepherd's son (played here by a very funny, very red-nosed Winston Bischof). But in this production, director Caitlin Fisher-Draeger has taken it a step further and brought in a circus. There are several clowns, who double as musicians, as well as two or three performers each night from The Circus Project. Fisher-Draeger notes that the circus is meant to differentiate the traveling circus world of Bohemia from the traditional Sicilia. It works, and it's fun, and the circus performances on opening night were excellent.

Fisher-Draeger has also turned Prince Florizel into Princess Florizel, transforming the central love story into a romance between two women (which seems fair given that Post5's recent production of TWELFTH NIGHT featured a man in the role of Olivia). The gender switch gives the play a more modern feel, but at the same time it is done so naturally that, this being my first time seeing THE WINTER'S TALE, I had to look up which role had been switched.

The performances as a whole are very even. McCumber plays the role of Leontes with the perfect balance of hard-headedness and fallibility. Bischof is great as the Clown, which is one of the funniest roles in the play. And I thoroughly enjoyed Susi's performance as Camillo.

Overall, the circus, the non-traditional casting, the music, and the use of the space itself (Shaking the Tree has become my favorite venue) combine for a very enjoyable evening.

THE WINTER'S TALE runs through June 13. For tickets, visit anonitmoves.org. Be sure to get there early enough for the pre-show.

Photo Credit: Russell Young

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