Yes yes yes yes yes yes! This is the type of production that makes you doubt the play has ever been better performed in the 400 years since it was written. A text often relegated to reluctant decennial repetition by repertory Shakespeare theatres, this “problem play”—only partially redeemed and abashedly esteemed for its “strong female characters”—is here staged so boldly that it not only asks but demands audiences to answer: what actually is so problematic about female strength? Why are men made so uncomfortable by powerful women? And what on earth are women supposed to do with that dangerous discomfort?
Directed by Yaël Farber and dripping with the seductive intrepidity that coats her directorial tongue, this production is unmissable and unmistakable. It is contemporary not in the sense that it clumsily apes current events or awkwardly echoes some rife and riven historical motif, but in the way it feels urgently relevant. It delves into the cleft between the play’s reputation as outdatedly misogynistic and the political and social reality of women’s entirely current, continued subjugation—and in doing so, it restitches history.
The play is a difficult one, and this production is no picnic. It is more a rite than a performance, with unfolding action that is distressing and challenging. Yet it provides audiences with the kind of catharsis that can only be achieved by diving headfirst into discomfort. Bertie Carvel delivers a sickeningly adroit performance as Leontes and shares a wonderful charisma with John Light’s gentle, brute Polixenes. But it is the play’s women who are truly remarkable.
Madeline Appiah’s heartrending and harrowed Hermione is a force to behold—not in isolation, but in conversation with a tremendous cast of performers forming her corps. Aïcha Kossoko’s Paulina, Leah Haile’s Perdita, and Amelda Brown’s Shepherdess all shine in their collective constellation. However, it is the unexpected sparkle in performances from Hilda Cronje, Chihiro Kawasaki, and Rhianna Compton that truly set the stage alight.
An incredibly intelligent and dizzyingly physicalized production, Farber’s The Winter’s Tale is a wonder worth beholding.
Playing until 30th August, https://www.rsc.org.uk/the-winters-tale/
Reviewer: Kira Daniels
Reviewed: 22nd July 2025
North West End UK Rating: