Review: THE WINTER'S TALE, Barbican

In the Barbican's vast space, Cheek by Jowl presents their formidable, modern-dress take on Shakespeare's account of blind jealousy, suspicion, abandonment, loss, and young love. The company is back for the first time since their 2015 Measure for Measure, as part of a new global tour.

Their singular telling of the Bard's classic sees the dark stage left rather bare, with a large, white, wooden object that resembles a storage trailer. Nick Ormerod's design is inventive and effective, and the cleverly devised actor-operated scene sparks curiosity from the very start of the play, while the almost-empty stage reflects Leontes's distance from reality.

Movement director Jane Gibson and Declan Donnellan's work sync together flawlessly: in the first act, Leontes (Orlando James) is visually the centre of the characters' worlds as they become his satellites, gravitating towards and away from him.

James is tremendous as a man with evident mental health issues that he's passed down to son Mamillius (Tom Cawte). His sudden change of heart towards the two people he loved most, Hermione (Natalie Radmall-Quirke) and Polixenes (Edward Sayer), is exceptionally portrayed, from Leontes's gut-wrenching display of delusion and sudden, and sick descent into false suspicion, to the heartfelt, emotional reunion.

Under Judith Greenwood's gold and blue lights, suggesting a paralysis in time, James and Sayer move the other characters around them as if they were toys, explaining their trains of thought to the audience. The result is visually striking.

In contrast, the Bohemia section is full of innovative, fun-filled, fearless moments. Ryan Donaldson is a passionate Autolycus, with unabashed pop-rock songs and talk-show host sketches, providing welcome light relief between the weightier sections.

Cheek by Jowl tells Shakespeare's tale of intoxicating madness in a unique and profoundly sincere way.

The Winter's Tale runs at the Barbican until 22 April.

Photo credit: Johan Persson.

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