Shakespeare's magical tale comes to a magical setting

10:41am Friday 4th July 2008

SHAKESPEARE did not write his plays to be performed in a stuffy theatre full of stuffy people. He wrote them to be performed in the open air to an energetic and eclectic audience. With this in mind, a company of players from Shakepeare's Globe Theatre have once again left their home on the South Bank to "explore the tradition of taking Shakespeare into non-theatrical spaces", and this week they bring their touring production of The Winter's Tale to Hertforshire's historic Hatfield House.

Artistic director Dominic Dromgoole tells me: "We are trying to recreate what it was like to tour 400 years ago, and then the company would have left the Globe and wandered across the country playing in extraordinary, wonderful and glamourous places.

There is something about being under the sky that makes the words much more clearer and actual, and the actors are exposed to the elements which is magical

"It's a huge honour to come to Hatfield House. It is such a famous Elizabethan site and that period of history is wrapped up in it. It seems more than likely that the original Globe company would have gone there."

He adds: "Shakespeare wrote for the open air, he didn't write for indoor theatre, writing first for the Swan and then later, of course, the Globe. There is something about being under the sky that makes the words that much clearer and actual and easier to understand and follow. On top of that, all the actors are exposed to the elements and that makes it magical."

The idea of sitting through Shakespeare is enough to have some running for the nearest Imax cinema, but Dominic insists The Winter's Tale is the perfect introduction to any theatre-phobe.

The Bard's magical production centres on Leontes, the King of Secilla, who is driven into a green rage after convincing himself of his wife's infidelity and subsequently tears his family apart. The disastrous consequences of Leontes' actions reverberate across the generations and national borders. Only his daughter, Perdita, left for dead in the wild of Bohemia in her infancy, survives to redeem the tale.

"It's a lovely one to start with because it's such an engaging story. The audience is drawn into the fortune of the family. Ultimately it's not a story about kings and queens but a family and the audience relates to that.

"In terms of genre it's a funny mix of fairy tale and comedy and not quite tragedy. It's an extraordinary play written later in Shakespeare's career when he was very interested in genre busting. You think it's going to be very dark, and then all of the story elements that are heading for darkness are suddenly flipped like a coin in the second half and the play is flooded with lightness, warmth and comedy."

Despite being the artistic director of what some would now (wrongly) class a high-brow' form of entertainment, Dominic admits he is not immune to the pull of theatrical TV talent shows such as How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do, and most recently I'd Do Anything.

"Reluctantly I do get drawn into them," he hesitantly confesses. "In fact, we all got quite excited about the I'd Do Anything show. The prejudice to honour is that they are rubbish, but the truth is it's compulsive rubbish."

However, don't expect a televised nationwide search for the next Hamlet just yet, as Dominic continues: "We have been asked about three times to do a show to cast the next Juliet, for example, and we have told them to get lost because that's not what we are about."

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre bring their touring production of The Winter's Tale to Hatfield House from July 5 to July 6. Tickets: go to www.whatsontickets or call 01707 287010.

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