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.
