The Winters Tale

Cork Opera House

A review should not be a snag-list, so only two problems with this Corcadorca presentation of a play implausible even by Shakespeare’s standards will be mentioned here, and briefly: they are the wig with which poor Queen Hermione is burdened, and the spotlight behind the final. shrine-like scene, which casts shadows where no shadows should fall.

It is appropriate that these flaws are to do with the visual effect, for it is in the mastery of set and lighting designer Paul Keogh and costume designer Joan Hickson that the bewitching magic of the production is most ardently conveyed.

And it is bewitching: the transition from the tragedy poisoning the Sicilian court of King Leontes to the capering rustics on the sea-coast of Bohemia is managed so skilfully that the actual construction of the drama is revealed without fracture and with a compelling suggestion that all can come right even in such a world as this.

The notion that time heals all wounds makes time itself central to what might qualify as a plot. Garret Lombard gives likelihood to Leontes who swerves from friendly host to demented husband in the wink of his own irrational eye, banishing his heavily pregnant queen to prison, or worse, for her imagined adultery. But Mairead McKinley’s Hermione is protected by Paulina, presented both as New Woman and Avenging Angel by Derbhle Crotty, fully in command not only of her character but of her fluent, energetic verse. Each member of the large cast, not least Sean Coombes as little Mamillius, has taken ownership of his or her role in Gavin Quinn’s crisp adaptation. The players are all conviction, and therefore the play, with Mel Mercier’s ululating and premoni- tory score, is convincing in its savagery, its mirth and in its tenderness.

Over nearly three hours, director Pat Kiernan and his design team seduce the audience with imagery: snow dusts Sicilia, the costumed colours of the otherwise austere court are those of Christmas, the pendant clock voiced by Cillian Murphy invites us to consider “If ever you have spent time worse than now . . .”

And yes, finally Corcadorca does shift into the auditorium; they just can’t help it.

Runs until Saturday