THE WINTER’S TALE by William Shakespeare, directed by Graham Abbey, with Brent Carver, Mark Crawford, Charlie Gallant, Patrick Galligan, Michelle Giroux, Roy Lewis, Tom McCamus, Sarena Parmer, Lucy Peacock and Robert Persichini. Presented by Groundling Theatre and Coal Mine Theatre (1454 Danforth). Previews from Tuesday (January 26), opens January 28 and runs to February 20, Tuesday-Sunday 7:30 pm. $35, rush $30, Sunday pwyc, previews $25. groundlingtheatre.com.
Speaking the words of Shakespeare is a visceral experience for Lucy Peacock.
In her 28 seasons at the Stratford Festival, Peacock has performed some 30 of the Bard’s plays, but this week she steps into a role that’s new for her: Paulina in The Winter’s Tale, one of Shakespeare’s last works.
Peacock is part of the inaugural production by the Groundling Theatre Company (run by Graham Abbey, who’s worked frequently at Stratford), presented as part of the Coal Mine season.
“It’s so exciting to be in a show that I’ve seen but not performed,” she says. “Feeling that new language, discovering it from the inside, is always a thrill. The energy of the language is something I’ve learned to take into my body, heart and soul.
“I think about the language as something I can taste, and this has a different flavour from other roles I’ve played. I’ve never known a character like Paulina, so constantly in conflict with many of the people in her world. That tension forces her to be clear in how she chooses her words. Nothing she says is extraneous, but always necessary for the moment.”
At the play’s centre is the irrationally jealous King Leontes, who believes that Hermione, his wife, is having an affair with his best friend, King Polixenes. Polixenes is forced to flee his friend’s wrath, which is then turned on Hermione. Leontes insists that Polixenes is the father of the queen’s newborn daughter. At the one-sided trial demanded by Leontes, his wife falls down, seemingly dead.
Paulina is a powerful and mysterious figure in Leontes’s court, a defender of Hermione and also the character who helps bring a happy resolution to the initially tragic narrative.
“Paulina’s name isn’t even spoken until well into the play,” notes Peacock, who’s back at Stratford next year in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons and Henrik Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman. “She’s someone who’s allowed into inner sanctum moments in the court, but we’re not really told why.
“I see her as a mystic of sorts, the medicine woman who can heal those around her psychologically, emotionally and physically. She has such power in the second half of the play.
“And like so many of Shakespeare’s women, she’s the figure who brings balance back, internal balance for the characters as well as the external balance of her world.”
Unlike the large-scale Stratford productions in which Peacock has appeared, this Winter’s Tale is staged in Coal Mine’s intimate new home at 1454 Danforth with a cast that includes actors from Stratford, Shaw and Toronto.
“We have the advantage of doing the play in a small space, embracing that experience and being sophisticated in how we work there, without all the lords, ladies and attendants who are usually part of a production. There are only 10 of us, and we can talk to someone on the other end of the stage and still feel like we’re having an intimate conversation.
“Graham’s emphasizing the stillness and simplicity of the script. We just let the words do the work.”
jonkap@nowtoronto.com
