Winter's Tale Play

The Shakespeare Play The Winter's Tale was put on here at UT by the Actors from the London Stage. They do not use any backdrops and very minimal props. There are only five of them that tell the entire story. They are amazing. Out of all the Shakespeare plays I have seen I enjoyed this one the most. The actors' simplistic style in presenting the play puts all the attention on the story and their acting skills. The slight changes in wardrobe help keep the characters separate and each actor did a wonderful job of portraying their unique characters.

The story itself was very interesting. The husband and king of the country decided that his pregnant wife had been having an affair on him with his good friend, even though this wasn’t true. He imprisoned her and she and she ended up dying in childbirth from the horrible conditions. His son also died from the anxiety of his mother being imprisoned and sentenced to death. He refused to accept the child and had her abandoned in the countryside. Eventually the daughter returns to her father and marries the son of her father's friend. The "statue" that is commissioned of the king's dead wife "comes to life." They all live happily ever after.

The story was very entertaining, but there is also a moral lesson in it. The king is the leader of a country and of his family. In that time the leader's word went, no questions. He is expected to be level headed and make responsible decisions for his family and country. But because of his jealousy and inability to extend sympathetic imagination to those around him and overcome the fantasies in his mind, his entire family suffers for many years. In the end he finally learns to become a good leader, but not before he has enough regrets to last him a lifetime.

Elva Trevino Hart

"My nana was crying, but she didn't want me to see. She smiled a big sad smile that was suppose to cheer me up. I knew she was sad, and I wanted to be sad too. I wanted her to know that I didn't want Paw to o to prison either. Everyone was solemn and serious. It was a big deal, but I couldn't understand what was going on. I didn't want to stand on the witness stand and tell all those people what happened to me; it was embarrassing. But Daddy said I had to. I wanted Daddy to be there, but he had to work. Daddy always had to work and make money. I wore my favorite dress, the one Nana had made for me; I told Momma that's why I was wearing it, to make Nana happy. The ceiling at the courthouse had a strange design. When I spun in circles it all spun with me; my own personal kaleidoscope. Momma was holding Nana's hand sitting on the bench. Any other day she would have made me stop spinning and sit by her, but today she was letting me do whatever I wanted. I heard her tell Nana that I had worn my dress because I wanted to make her happy. Nana cried harder. I felt bad. I had to wait in the room upstairs with Momma. It was grey and boring. Momma brought games and snacks to keep me occupied while we waited our turn to get on the witness stand. Eventually they came and got Momma. After that, I don't remember anything until later when we went to get lunch. "

This is the story I wrote during Elva Trevino Hart's seminar. I saw her at the Joyne's Reading Room on November 17th and then she visited our Plan II Seminar class on November 18th. It is a class titled: Emerging Selves: The Autobiographical Nature in Women's Writing, and it has been a great journey for me. Although all the class work and books have not been enjoyable, this book made up for all of it. The novel Barefoot Heart describes the journey of a young migrant worker girl in America. She made her way from the child of a migrant worker to IBM executive making a six figure income. She then proceeded to leave all the money and write her story. She felt her life had no meaning; she was a robot and very unhappy. I guess you could say that she was only getting to exercise her "left side brain." Once she finally admitted that she was a creative person and used the "right-side brain." She felt like a complete person. This exercise was close to my heart and I completely identify with her journey. I feel that I am on the same one right now. This book is my current favorite. I feel it will be so for a very long time; that and Susan Cisneros' House on Mango Street.