As presented in the University College courtyard by the Department of English at The University of Western Ontario

I had hesitations. A student production of Shakespeare??? All signs pointed to: probably not good. I STAND CORRECTED.

The Winter’s Tale is a tragicomedy; one of Shakespeare’s later compositions. Tale has been criticized as a ‘problem play’ because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, but the last two acts are comedic and supply a happy ending, a la contemporary Hollywood-style.

The Winter’s Tale, is the kind of medieval romance story that might have been performed by a troupe of traveling actors, or sung by a wandering minstrel to pass the long cold dark of a winter’s night…or, as the case may be, a sunny, blue-skied, warm summer evening. Indeed, the conditions could not have been more perfect, nor the courtyard scene more picturesque. Themes include jealousy, mistrust, regret, penance, and of course, love.

The acting was professional-calibre, the directing solid, the costumes simple, inventive, and appropriate. It was a truly fantastic time.

A Winter’s Tale gets 4 hearts out of 5: