The Winter’s Tale is a play I know very well, but I was inspired to think about it differently at the memorable staging by Washington University’s Performing Arts Department.

The production opens with a scene not in Shakespeare: a child at center stage is playing with a small toy bear. Viewers familiar with the play may be reminded of its notorious stage direction, “Exit pursued by a bear.” The apparent reference to a later event suggests the child may have something to do with telling the story.

The child appears next as Mamillius, the son of King Leontes and Queen Hermione of Sicilia. In Act 2 Scene 1, Hermione asks Mamillius to tell a tale. Saying a “sad tale’s best for winter,” the boy starts telling “one of sprites and goblins.” Could this be what the child was thinking about in the first scene?

Just then Leontes bursts into the room and orders Hermione’s arrest for committing adultery with Leontes’ boyhood friend, Polixenes, the king of Bohemia. Leontes’ suspicions about Hermione and Polixenes had arisen unaccountably at the start of the play. Nothing can change Leontes’ mind about Hermione’s guilt, not even a pronouncement exonerating her from the temple of Apollo at Delphi. At Hermione’s trial, Leontes cries out, “There is no truth at all i’ th’ oracle.” Only when Mamillius’s sudden death is reported does Leontes recognize his folly.

The child reappears in Act 3 Scene 3, when Leontes’ liegeman, Antigonus, has sailed to Bohemia to fulfill the king’s order to abandon Hermione’s newborn daughter in a remote place. The child is again holding the toy bear from the first scene as Antigonus is attacked by a bear that is monstrous rather than lifelike. Could this be a goblin from Mamillius’ interrupted tale?

The child returns at the start of Act 4 as the chorus, Time, who announces that 16 years have passed and tells what has happened since the end of the previous scene. At this point, the child has become the storyteller. Perhaps the child has been telling the story all along. I am deeply impressed by director William Whitaker’s intriguing use of the child to shape how the audience perceives the storytelling in The Winter’s Tale.

For this production, both the actors and the audience are on the Edison Theatre stage, with seating on three sides of the action and an evocatively painted backdrop on the fourth. In Robert Mark Morgan’s elegant scenic design, classical columns establish the setting of the scenes in Leontes’ court without obstructing the view. A marvelous transformation resets the stage for the festive scenes in rural Bohemia.

Asher Feinstein’s sober costumes for Sicilia contrast strongly with the bright ones for Bohemia. The sheep-shearing feast in Bohemia is filled with joy thanks to Jo Palisoc and Ellen Schaaf’s choreography, Paige Samz’ lighting, Gigi Taillon’s sound, and Emily Frei’s props. The dancing is to a clever fusion of Elizabethan and contemporary music.

The performance area is quite large, even though it shares the stage with the seating. Whitaker’s shrewd arrangement of the action prevents it from favoring one side over the others.

In his program note, Whitaker acknowledges cutting the text by about 30 percent, but I felt no loss in continuity. The Washington U. actors speak their parts clearly and convincingly. The cast was undoubtedly helped by Rob Henke, who is credited in the program as “Master of the Verse.” The performers in major roles include:

• Tristan Dumas as Leontes
• Ella Sherlock as Hermione
• June Camp as the child (Mamillius and Time)
• Ava Morgan as Perdita, Leontes and Hermione’s daughter
• John Noonan as Polixenes
• Peter Michalski as Florizel, Polixenes’ son
• Heather Elaine Anderson as Camillo, a lord of Sicilia
• Owen Farra as Antigonus, a lord of Sicilia
• Hope McKinney as Paulina, a lady of Sicilia and Antigonus’ wife
• Trinity Weinhaus as the old shepherd
• Eliza Rocks as the old shepherd’s son
• Zachary Nowacek as the rascal, Autolycus

The play concludes with a seemingly magical scene of redemption following years of atonement. The final moments at Washington U. suggest that not all has been forgiven, however. I’m not sure whether I agree with this interpretation, but I appreciate the opportunity to experience the ending in a new way. I learn more when my preconceptions are challenged than I do when they are confirmed.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Danny Reise/Washington University

Zach Nowacek as Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale.