'The Winter's Tale' is not one of the very best plays of William Shakespeare, a master playwright and one of history's most important, with one of his more improbable plots. It is still though a charmer, has interesting characters difficult to portray in some cases, has Shakespeare's usual mastery of language and has emotional impact. To me, even when Shakespeare was not at his very best there was still an awful lot to admire.
As has been said before, although some productions are inevitably better than others, the BBC Television Shakespeare series is an interesting must watch. It is great to have a series containing productions of almost all his plays, and while there are productions where low budget does show it is also great to see the productions mostly faithfully and tastefully staged with generally good casts (with some disappointments too). This 1981 production of 'The Winter's Tale' is as of now among the lower rated productions of the series here, for me it is somewhere in the high middle without being one of the best. It is a good example of how to do 'The Winter's Tale' and doesn't disgrace it or Shakespeare at all.
Not much else to add to what has been said. There are short-comings with the productions which have been said already, and do share those criticisms. Especially with the ageing mostly not being convincing enough and even more so with the woefully under-budgeted look/effect of the bear.
It is agreed too that Debbie Farrington and Robin Kermode are on the bland side, they look the part and look appropriately youthful but when it comes to experience the others are so far ahead and it shows.
However, the production does look good otherwise. The production values are simple in the type of set used but it was great that it didn't get in the way of the staging or swamp the cast, while the costumes are also simple but don't come over as though they were made on a low budget in a rush (found them quite tasteful actually). Also really liked the colour scheme starting from the more monochrome colours to the richer and more vibrant ones, which fitted with the story's progression. The use of close-ups was effective and made the most of, without being over-the-top or over-used.
Shakespeare's text shines through, amusing, tense, loving and poignant in equal measure. The staging is compelling, apart from a brief dead stretch at the beginning, it didn't come over as too busy or too static while also not resorting to pointless distaste and everything makes sense. Despite trying not to be too much of a traditionalist, have liked concept productions of plays and operas, but it depends on how the concept is executed, whether it and the staging touches make sense and don't offend. Do agree that the pace is fine on the whole and the spirit of the play is maintained with full impact.
Jeremy Kemp is a compellingly tortured as Leontes and Robert Stephens equally excels in another difficult role in Polixenes. It is hard to find a more ideal Camillo than David Burke, while Anna Calder-Marshall is a noble and touching Hermione and Margaret Tyzack is an immensely powerful presence as Paulina. The more clownish and comedic aspects and how they're performed are actually done amusingly and not obnoxiously, Shakespearean clowns/comedy relief are not easy to get right judging from how variably they have been performed in Shakespeare productions/adaptations but this production of 'The Winter's Tale' does a great job on this front. The interaction between the actors is never less than compelling and a great deal of thought clearly went into it.
Overall, a very good and often great production. This may sound like reinforcing what has been said already but only really because what has been said has been said so well and wanted to show my agreement. Also reviewed it as someone seeing the whole BBC Television Shakespeare series and writing reviews on them. 8/10
