A sad tale may be best for winter, but a distinctly celebratory atmosphere suffuses “The Winter’s Tale,” the long-awaited first in-person production at the California Shakespeare Theater since the pandemic began.
Here, Autolycus (Phil Wong) is a pop star as well as a pickpocket. Florizel (Dane Troy) and Perdita (a radiant Sharon Shao) do the floss. The B-52s “Love Shack” and the Zombies “Time of the Season” also figure prominently in this wildly original musical version of the Bard’s comedy, framed by a golden Orinda hillside.
While the giddy outdoor staging zigzags through tones and styles in sometimes disorienting fashion, the sheer unmitigated pleasure of watching Shakespeare live on stage after all this time will leave many theatergoers swooning with joy.
Adapted by Eric Ting and Philippa Kelly, and directed by Ting, this adventurous production gleefully mixes codpieces and pop culture with Brechtian placards and peg-legged pirates in a sideshow of a second act. The ever-inventive Ting, who is company artistic director, echoes the jarring juxtapositions of the text, which leaps 16 years and brings statues to life, with his signature no-holds-barred directorial style.
While not all of the shtick lands, and there’s a technical glitch here and there, the first act hits hard indeed. Amid the hurly-burly of current events, King Leontes’ (Craig Marker) grim subjugation of his pregnant queen Hermione (Safiya Fredericks), whom he thinks has been unfaithful with the king’s boyhood chum Polixenes (also Dane Troy), strikes at the core of issues of patriarchy and violence.
Shakespeare’s insights into the abuse of power — how people and institutions you think you know and can rely upon, can turn against you on a dime — feel scarily relevant today.
Marker brings so much sincerity to Leontes’ ranting that it smacks of religious fundamentalism, a mindset mirrored by the black-and-white tableaux of Act 1 (the stark set design is by Tanya Orellana).
Watching the once righteous king sink into a nest of writhing conspiracy theories, you feel the seduction of smugly believing you know better than all the experts. Who needs the oracle? Only you know the truth.
Cathleen Riddley also rivets as the fierce Paulina, the only one brave enough to defy the mad king.
Ting deftly captures the banality of a patriarchal society where women are only as free as men allow them to be. Hermione’s submissive posture makes sense here. In her world, her liberty was always borrowed.
The director also builds up to the play’s magical transformation with a series of infectious musical interludes that tap into the redemptive power of music and movement.
By the end, Shakespeare’s characters have emerged from a grueling period of sacrifice and darkness, collectively longing for renewal and enlightenment. Now more than ever, we in the audience know just how they feel.
‘THE WINTER’S TALE’
By William Shakespeare, adapted by Eric Ting and Philippa Kelly, presented by California Shakespeare Theater
When: Through Oct. 2
Where: Bruns Amphiteatre, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way (off Highway 24), Orinda
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes; 1 intermission
Tickets: $30-$65 (subject to change); www.calshakes.org