Blog 12

The production of Winter’s Tale that we watched in class was well done. I thought the actors were above average. I am not a drama critic and I have only seen a handful of plays but I believe this play was very well done. The portrayals of the characters were very accurate to the text.
Leontes was depicted as mad and infected with jealousy in the scene in Act 3. I thought the character played the part of a mad man well. His facial expressions helped him come of as a mad man. And he seemed to ignore everything that Hermione said in a very believable way. My problem with his character was that he seemed a little wacky. By that I mean his character was almost silly. I think it would have came off a little better if he was to have a more angry tone, sort of like the one Laurance Fishbourne played in Othello. Also when he cried it was sort of amusing. I think he could have done better. His depiction in the later act was good. They had him dressed in more humbler attire and he seemed to be very level headed.
Hermione was great. I loved the actress who played her. In Act 3 she was superb. The emotion she evoked locked me to the screen, I felt genuinely bad for her. She wasn’t too emotional for the stage nor was she trying too hard. She had it just right. She was an honorable woman. I felt she had just the right amount of dignity and pride on her way out. In the later scene, well she didn’t do much but stand there. She plays a statue well! When she came alive I felt it was fitting. I was waiting to see how she would act when it was time for her to come to life and I was pleased when she did it the way she did. It wasn’t tacky.
Paulina was the voice of reason. She was ok. In Act 3 she was good but when it was time for her to be very emotional, she wasn’t as good as Hermione. I’m not sure what I would do to make that part better, but it seemed put on when she was yelling down at Leontes. I did enjoy her part in Act 5. She was soft enough to be heard and set the mood well. The way she was stirring Hermione to life was ok but it got to the point to where I was saying to myself, “come on already lady, wake up!”