Southern Tier Actors Read is bringing Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale to life with a staged reading that embraces both the tragedy and the joy of one of the Bard’s most unusual plays. Director Chris Nickerson describes it not as a “problem play,” but as something far more expansive.
“I would call it a dramatic comedy,” Nickerson says. “The first half is the winter part of the story — jealousy, death, real darkness — and then sixteen years later it almost becomes an entirely new play, with music, dancing, romance, even a shipwreck and a bear attack. You have everything you could possibly want.”
Actor Amy Smith takes on one of Shakespeare’s most volatile characters, King Leontes of Sicilia. She says the role begins innocently enough. “Leontes is trying to get his best childhood friend to stay a little longer,” Smith explains. “But that moment plants the seed of jealousy, and once that starts, everything just snowballs.”
Nickerson says the first act is driven by obsession and mistrust, while the second offers transformation and reconciliation. “Terrible things ensue when the king rejects the gods’ judgment,” he says. “But when we come back sixteen years later, the story opens up into something hopeful and ultimately very beautiful.”
Because of the play’s famously complex plot, Smith credits Nickerson’s adaptation for making the story accessible. “Chris is very good at identifying the essential plot points,” she says. “It’s a great introduction to Shakespeare — you can follow it clearly, enjoy the language, and still be surprised by the ending.”
Nickerson also notes that Shakespeare is especially well suited to staged readings. “Our focus is the word — the written word and the story,” he says. “Shakespeare tells you everything you need through language. In a way, readings are how his plays were meant to work.”
Southern Tier Actors Read presents The Winter’s Tale on January 30 at 7 p.m., January 31 at 2 p.m., and again at 7 p.m. in the ballroom of the Phelps Mansion Museum, 191 Court Street in Binghamton. More information is available online at https://phelpsmansion.org.