Leontes' palace is a haunted and haunting place. The walls of the great chamber narrow towards the back in thrilling perspective... White sheets billow above like gleaming clouds big with rain, suggesting both the plenitude and the dangers of nature.
- Act and Scene
- Credit
- John Peter, Sunday Times
- Date
- 1999
- Copyright
- ©
A Warwickshire Whitsun pastoral with a touch of Stanley Spencer's Cookham. This is a world of implacable fêtes, of oom-pah-pah village bands and coloured bunting.
- Act and Scene
- Credit
- Michael Billington, The Guardian
- Date
- 1992
- Copyright
- ©
A gorgeously caparisoned barbaric folk tale full of blood and thunder (and lightening) which forces acceptance by the strength of its passion.
- Act and Scene
- Credit
- JF, Daily Worker
- Date
- 1948
- Copyright
- ©
The Sicilian court is relocated to a Forties film noirish setting, with the opening scene taking place in a nightclub... Claustrophobic... monochrome.
- Act and Scene
- Credit
- Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph
- Date
- 2002
- Copyright
- ©
We first see the court of Sicilia through white gauze... Regency costumes are white – tailcoats, boots and all. The floor is covered by a vast polar bear skin, whose huge head stares out at the audience, the play’s softness and savagery personified.
- Act and Scene
- Credit
- Martin Hoyle, Financial Times
- Date
- 1986
- Copyright
- ©
Download: transcript [PDF]
