The Winter’s Tale (BEDLAM) NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (7)
See it if An energetic reimagining of the classic in the best Bedlam tradition. Terrific individual acting working well together with ensemble effort.
Don't see it if Still somewhat settling into a comfortable integration between modern updates and Shakespeare text
See it if Bedlam's reinterpretations of the classics is generally worth seeing
Don't see it if This is a miss, with the second half totally unwatchable with a sitcom like interpretation and without emotional impact. Very disappointing
See it if Bedlam is very creative so there are a few inspired moments, & the performances are generally strong. I am usually a fan. However…
Don't see it if The conception of the production is incomprehensible; much of the 2d half is gratuitously bizarre. It goes nowhere & says little.
See it if disenchanted with old plays yet unwilling to try new ones? You know the play well & are up for a decisively unmagical, unpoetic take.
Don't see it if you want to see a nice show with clear intentions. Unsure if they had over-ambitious scope or if they simply gave up. Read more
See it if You want to support a smaller, independent theater company…
Don't see it if Winter’s Tale is, imho one of Shakespeare’s jewels and underrated — but this production is a real miss — very little makes sense… Read more
See it if You know someone in the cast or are friends of friends or are up for very quirky productions.
Don't see it if You like well conceived and presented mash ups of Shakespeare and modern tropes. This mostly fails. Read more
See it if you enjoy raw, courageous acting without training wheels
Don't see it if You strictly prefer period (or Elizabethan) costumes Read more
Critic Reviews (4)
"So much exuberance can demonstrate a breach of trust in the material, and the audience’s ability to understand it."
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"Cohesion and pacing are sacrificed for bawdy laughs, and all the charm that usually comes with 'The Winter's Tale's' romantic resolution has been lost to the elements — not of nature, but the winds of creative chaos."
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In the past, Bedlam’s reinventions have revealed or uncovered something new in the plays they have staged. This "Winter’s Tale" only seems to make things more complicated. The use of a company of only seven actors is here reductive, rather useful. Anyone unfamiliar with the play will have trouble with the double casting. It is only to be hoped that Bedlam will find its way back to elucidating classic texts that have become musty with age. At three hours and ten minutes this version of Shakespeare’s "The Winter’s Tale" feels long without any payoff while the physical production suggests royals down on their luck.
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Director Eric Tucker’s production of The Winter’s Tale for Bedlam seems to have taken its approach from the company’s title: it’s almost all bedlam. … As an explanation of Leontes’s irrational suspicions of adultery, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)—the brain damage that boxers get from concussions—is the most ingenious thing about this production. … Shakespeare is not to be trusted. Interpolations, meta-theater, improvisation, and anachronisms abound. John McDermott’s set for Sicilia’s royal court features a worn checkerboard floor, vinyl chairs and sofa, a coffee table, and strings of white lights—it’s a rural grange hall decorated for Christmas, with courtiers lounging or playing darts. … The great moment of redemption in Act V, with the unveiling and reanimation of a statue of Hermione into flesh and blood, is a bust.
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