On 1, 2, 3, and 4 March 2016, the Grand Théâtre of Luxembourg City is hosting Cheek by Jowl's modern take on William Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale', a tale of slow family destruction perpetrated by a mad king.
The opening scene of the play, directed by Declan Donellan, gives the audience a first personal insight into Leontes' (Orlando James), insidious descent into a whirlwind of delusion, as he stares strained and unblinking, with music building to a frightening crescendo as a forewarning of the chaos to come. Already the tense atmosphere is set, momentarily broken by Leontes' encounter with his old friend, Edward Sayer's Polixenes.
However, witnessing Polixenes interact with his pregnant wife Hermione (Nathalie Radmall-Quirke), tendrils of mistrust creep into Leontes' mind and he begins to suspect the two are having an affair, and that the child she carries is not his own. The characters are then dragged into a psychological drama, each desperately attempting to pull Leontes back from the brink.
The back and forth between love and hate, cloudy madness and clarity, is apparent through the various embraces performed throughout: desperate kisses of reassurance, repentance and coercion. It is also wonderfully evoked through Leontes' relationship with his son, Mamillius, a figure of innocence impressively interpreted by the young Tom Cawte, with whom the plagued Leontes tussles back and forth mentally and physically as he struggles with his own inner demons. The relationship highlights the sorrowful contrast between the wild-eyed paranoia of Leontes against the wide-eyed hopefulness and trust of his son who cannot understand what is happening to his father.
Although the play does offer a happy ending, tragedy is rife as mental sickness transforms into physical sickness. At times, Donellan's modern reprising of a Shakespearean classic has an almost horror movie quality to it, conjured by Fred Riding's shocking sound effects of deafening thunderclaps and eerie noises.
Declan Donellan is co-founder and joint Artistic Director of Cheek by Jowl, alongside designer Nick Ormerod. The theatre production company was first created in 1981, and has since performed in over 300 cities across the world with pieces such as Shakespeare's 'Measure for Measure', 'The Tempest', and 'Twelfth Night'; ''Tis Pity She's a Whore' by John Ford; Anton Chekhov's 'Three Sisters'; and 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens.
The final performance of The Winter's Tale will take place at 20:00 on Friday 4 March 2016 at the Grand Théâtre. For more information, visit www.lestheatres.lu, or to discover more about Cheek by Jowl and previous productions, visit www.cheekbyjowl.com.
